


The Other Curse

by SkinnyProcrastinator



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Slow Burn, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-19 23:02:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 63,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3627591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkinnyProcrastinator/pseuds/SkinnyProcrastinator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following an accidental journey into the past and a chance encounter with Belle French, Emma Swan manages to change everything. When she returns to Boston on the day of her 28th birthday, for the second time in her memory, all she can think about is getting back to Storybrooke but when she does she finds things quite different. Eventual SwanQueen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Emma rushed through the door to her Boston apartment, or rushed as much as she could in the high heels and tight red dress she was wearing She looked at the calendar on the wall to double-check that she wasn’t losing her mind. 

It was definitely her birthday. Her twenty-eighth birthday. The day Henry first arrived in Boston after running away from home and took her back to Storybrooke. She internally cursed time travel and its complex and thorny problems but more than that she cursed how she always seemed to be the one in the middle of everything. The being the saviour nonsense was really beginning to mess with her.

Still a positive was that at least this time she wouldn’t be shocked when Henry turned up and told her that he was her long-lost son. She could go back to Storybrooke without needing directions, she would immediately believe in the curse and would seem like a God to people when she could predict exactly what they were going to say and what was about to happen. 

She looked at the clock and realised that Henry should have arrived by now and began to pace the kitchen, not noticing that she was still wearing the uncomfortable high heels. Suddenly a terrifying thought hit her, maybe she had affected the timeline somehow. She shook her head as she considered that that couldn’t possibly be the case because she remembers Henry, she remembers giving birth to him. Confusing started to mount within her as she wondered if she had changed the timeline, if her memories of Henry were simply memories from another timeline, one she had destroyed.

Panic started to mount as she waited for Henry’s arrival, eventually she sat on the couch to wait and before long her exhaustion caused her to drift into a dream-filled sleep and suddenly she is there again, reliving the events in her subconscious. She’d just broken it off with Hook, the whole Ingrid business had really affected her and after saying goodbye to Elsa she felt so alone and confused. It was then that she started to see that she was just using Hook for some convenient companionship. Nothing beyond the odd kiss had happened between them and as far as she was concerned nothing ever would but she realised she was leading him on because she’d never had someone so obsessively in love with her before. 

It was intoxicating to feel that you were the centre of someone’s universe and so hard to let go of. But once Else had left and Emma was trying to process her feelings from the stressful time she had attempted to confide in Hook only to realise that a three hundred year old pirate wasn’t the best listener. She hadn’t meant to hurt him but once she realised that she couldn’t be with him anymore and had told him just that, he had vanished into thin air. She spent a while looking for him, worried that something had happened to him despite the fact that Mary Margaret and David were convinced that Hook had somehow found a way out of Storybrooke and to another realm.

Following a fruitless trip to the docks Emma was walking back into town, her beloved Bug was in the shop again, when a bright light appeared in front of her. Her curiosity got the better of her and instead of jumping back and away from it like any normal person might have, she stopped and stared at it and a moment later she felt her body being dragged in. The sensation was similar to a portal and Emma absently considered that she had spent too much time in portals if she could now identify what one felt like.

Landing with a thud on muddy ground she looked around at the woods she was in and sighed as she quickly guessed that she had somehow ended up in the Enchanted Forest again. Gingerly she stood up and brushed off her clothes and looked around for any clues of her location until her eye caught a figure moving in between the trees. Emma quickly hid behind the nearest tree and watched the figure with interest, it seemed to be a woman with a shawl covering her head and carrying a basket as she hummed a merry tune.

The woman was getting closer and so Emma took a small step back and, somewhat predictably, trod on a twig causing the sound to startle the woman.

“Who’s there?” 

Emma knew the game was up and put her hands up and tried to look as unassuming as possible as she stepped out from the behind the tree to present herself, “I don’t mean you any harm,” Emma said calmly, “I’m just lost.”

The woman shrugged off her shawl to reveal Belle French. It was then that Emma realised that not only was she in the Enchanted Forest she was also in another time because Belle was showing not a single sign of recognition.

“Hello, I’m Belle,” the brunette smiled at Emma.

“I’m Emma,” the blonde replied with a smile.

“How did you get out here?” Belle asked as she regarded Emma’s strange clothing, “and where are you from?”

Emma looked down at her clothes, “oh, yes, I’m.. well, it’s a long way from here. I’m not sure how to get back.”

Belle smiles as she looks around the woods, “then maybe we should walk together, these woods are not always safe for lone travellers.”

Emma looked around the woods, “oh, I’m sure I can protect myself,” she said but walked beside Belle nonetheless as she asked, “why are you travelling alone if the woods are not safe?”

“Oh, I’m.. I’m sort of protected,” Belle admitted.

“Oh?” Emma asked curiously.

“Well, I’m, sort of a prisoner, really,” Belle explained and then sighed as she was unhappy with the way she was explaining the situation, “not really a prisoner but.. well.. have you heard of Rumpelstiltskin?”

Emma inclined her head, “I have,” she said noncommittally. 

“Well, I’m his housekeeper,” Belle said, “people know that if they cross me, they cross him. I’m his possession.”

“Possession?!” Emma couldn’t help herself from crying out.

“Well, I belong to him,” Belle shrugged.

“You can only belong to someone if you allow it, you can be a prisoner or you can allow yourself to belong to someone, they are not necessarily the same thing,” Emma rationalised.

Belle stopped walking and considered this for a moment before looking at Emma thoughtfully, “you know, I had never really considered that before. You are right, I do allow myself to belong to him. Is that silly?”

Emma considered what she knew of the future and shook her head, “if he treats you well and you.. respect him.. then no, it’s not silly,” she smiled.

“He does treat me well,” Belle nodded with a small smile, “he doesn’t like to show it but I think he cares for me.”

“Sometimes it’s hard for people to show what they’re really feeling, sometimes they hide behind a mask to protect themselves from pain,” Emma explained softly.

“Yes, that’s Rumpel,” Belle admitted with a chuckle, “he does like to keep his emotions bottled up.”

Emma thought about herself and her own tendency to keep her feelings bottled up, while she was certainly protecting herself from potential pain she was also ruining any chance she had of finding happiness. Many a time Emma had wished she were brave enough to take a leap of faith, to take the risk that she could be hurt in order to give herself the chance to find something else in her life, something meaningful. 

“The problem with bottling up those emotions,” Emma thought aloud, “is that time can go by and then, much later, you realise what you wanted at the time but it’s too late. And you look back with regret.”

Emma looked at Belle and realised that something she had said had had a colossal impact on the brunette who was staring at the forest floor with wide-eyed shock.

“Belle?” Emma asked softly.

Belle looked at Emma with a smile, “you’re right, you’re absolutely right, Emma! I’ve been wasting time, I shouldn’t wait to regret, I should live my life now! Thank you so much!”

Belle dropped her basket to the ground and wrapped Emma in a hug before letting go of the stunned blonde and picking up the basket again and rushing back the way she came, “thank you,” she called back excitedly as she left.

As Belle left the area a large black cloud started to form in the sky and Emma looked up at it as it fizzed and popped and crackled above her, whatever it was it was definitely magical and definitely dark. Something was happening, like something had suddenly changed. 

Emma noticed a bright white light, similar to the one that had brought her to woods, flickering in the distance and quickly ran towards the light. In the moment before she leapt mindlessly into the light she wondered when her foolhardy behaviour would actually be the death of her.

And suddenly she was in Boston. On the steps of the police station, wearing a red dress and killer high heels that she only wore when she was setting up a perp. She hurried towards a newspaper vending machine and looked at the date. She blinked and hurried to the next one to look at the date on that. Standing up she realised that it was her birthday. Her twenty-eighth birthday. She had somehow gone back in time and this was the night that Henry would come and find her and take her back home.

Emma woke with a start, still in the red dress, slumped on the couch as the morning light drifted through the windows to her apartment. Henry hadn’t arrived. With a sense of panic Emma rushed into the bedroom and pulled out a battered holdall and started to pack up some belongings as she quickly stripped out of the dress. Pulling on some tight jeans, a tank top and a shirt she looked in the wardrobe and picked up her red leather jacket and smiled and shrugged it on before picking up the holdall and leaving the apartment. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Three hours and several broken speed limits later and Emma had never been happier to see the old-fashioned wooden sign welcoming visitors to Storybrooke. With every second her sense of relief grew stronger and stronger that the town and its people were still there. During her journey she had brought herself to the very edge of panic as she worried that maybe Storybrooke was gone, that she had somehow changed the timeline so drastically with her short conversation with Belle. 

She remembered with a sigh that the curse was still in force and that she had to break the curse in order to get things back to the way they were. Still it would be a lot easier now that she already believed in the curse, her and Henry would have this whole curse thing beaten in a couple of days and she could hopefully avoid all of that Regina wanting to kill her business.

Pulling up outside 108 Mifflin Street she smiled that nothing had changed and got out of the vehicle and walked up the path. She knocked on the door before she even had an idea of what she would say to Regina or Henry when they answered but she knew she’d come up with something when it happened. Which didn’t seem to be any time soon. 

She knocked again before looking at her watch and realising it was the middle of the day, Henry would be at school and Regina would presumably be working at Town Hall. With a sigh she stepped away from the front door and meandered down the pathway as she considered what to do next. No one in town would know her so the first step was to integrate herself into the town and the best way to do that would be to get a place to stay and get a job. 

Pausing in shock as she held the door handle of her Bug she remembered Graham and realised that she had the opportunity to see him, even to save him. If she could break the curse and stop Regina from going atomic then Graham didn’t have to die. Deciding it was time to demote herself to Deputy she drove further into town to make her way to the see the Sheriff.

As she drove down Main Street she smiled at the memories of her first time in Storybrooke, thinking that the town was so small and old-fashioned. How right she had been as nothing had changed in twenty-eight years for the majority of them. She pulled off of the road and into the car park and parked her Bug in the visitor space beside her Sheriff’s cruiser, the Sheriff’s cruiser, she corrected herself.

She took a deep breath as she walked into the building and made her way into the Sheriff’s offices, she was nervous and excited at the prospect of seeing Graham again. So she couldn’t help it when her face fell when she saw Archie sitting not only at Graham’s desk but wearing the Sheriff’s uniform. He looked up with a smile as he saw Emma walk in, “good afternoon, can I help you?”

Emma tried to recover from her initial her disappointment, “hi,” she greeted, “I’m.. I’m Emma Swan, I was wondering if Graham was around?”

Archie frowned, “I’m afraid I don’t know of a Graham, I’m Sheriff Hopper,” he stood up and held his hand out.

Emma shook his hand, “oh, I see, it’s been a while since I’ve been here,” she claimed as she looked around the office to see how clean and organised it was. 

Archie smiled warmly as he sat back down, “you know,” he mused as he gestured to a chair for Emma to sit down, “I don’t think I can remember the last time we had a visitor in town, how about that?”

“Storybrooke is a very small town,” Emma smiled at him. 

“That it is,” Archie smiled knowingly, “may I ask what brings you here?”

“Oh, I was just passing through,” Emma disclosed, “as I said I was here a while ago, you know, I can’t even remember how long ago!”

Archie nodded, “I know exactly what you mean, funny how time just,” he held his hands up around his head, “blurs together and you can’t quite remember what happened when.”

“Exactly,” Emma smiled, glad that the curse seemed to work in the same way when it came to people’s memories and the difficulty they had with keeping time, “I’m actually Deputy Sheriff of a town smaller than Storybrooke, if you can believe such a thing exists,” she chuckled, “well I was, recently quit, wanted a change of scenery.”

“Well, if you find any time then please come by later and help me solve some cases,” Archie joked.

“I might just do that,” Emma grinned as she stood up, “first I better check in on a few people, if they’re still around!”

“Nice to meet you, Emma,” Archie said as he stood and nodded his head to her as she left.

As soon as Emma was out of the building she let out the breath she had been holding. Things were different, people were in the wrong place. She stood outside the Sheriff’s office looking up and down the street as she pondered her next move. Last time she broke the curse by kissing Henry when she broke the sleeping curse he was under, so she needed to find Henry. Looking up the street she saw Town Hall and decided she it was time to re-introduce herself to Regina in order to figure out how to get everything back to normal.

Not bothering with her car she quickly walked towards the building, taking extra care to notice the things around her and make a mental note of any other things that had changed. The flower shop was gone, Granny’s seemed to be a different design, there were small changes but Emma knew that even small changes were potentially very significant in this new Storybrooke.

Entering Town Hall she immediately went up to the third floor and approached the Mayor’s office. The secretary’s desk was unmanned and Emma walked straight toward the open door to the Mayor’s inner office like she had done a hundred times before. 

The second she crossed the threshold she felt a cold dread cover her body, the room was unrecognisable. Gone were the ultra-modern furnishings and the plush sofa, cushions and curtains and in their place stood antiques, dark wood and a decidedly masculine feel. 

Which wasn’t at all surprising because at the large, dark oak desk sat a man. He was older, bald with some greying hair, a beard and moustache, also peppered with grey.

“Hello, young lady,” he said kindly as he stood up and smiled at her pleasantly, looking over the top of his glasses.

“I am so sorry for barging in,” Emma said as she hesitantly approached the desk and stared at the room in confusion, “there was no one outside..”

“My secretary is probably on lunch, are you new here? I don’t recall seeing you before but then I am terrible with names,” he laughed approachably as he held out his hand, “I’m Leopold Blanchard, I’m the Mayor of Storybrooke.”


	2. Chapter 2

It took Emma a few seconds to get over her shock but she eventually approached the man, her grandfather, and shook his hand.

“Emma Swan, I’m just passing through town,” she said casually, “seems I got a bit turned around and ended up in the Mayor’s office, I’m sorry!”

“Oh, we don’t get many visitors,” Leopold said with a smile, “please, sit down,” he gestured a chair and despite Emma wanting nothing more than to get out of the office she found herself sitting down.

“So, Emma Swan,” he asked as he sat in his own chair and looked at her with stately though friendly interest, “what do you do?”

“I’m actually a Deputy Sheriff,” Emma decided it was best to keep her cover story intact, “well, I was, I recently left.”

“What interesting work,” Leopold said, “and especially for a woman. No offence meant, my dear, but all the women in my life are definitely the fairer sex. My dear daughter Mary Margaret would be the first to admit that she would be ill suited to law enforcement work.”

Emma smiled politely, not liking the old-fashioned and somewhat sexist attitude on display but the guy seemed to mean no harm, “yes, well it’s certainly not for everyone,” she admitted, “even some guys.”

Leopold chuckled, “you are right, of course, we are all different, my dear first wife Eva was the first to say that you should not judge a book by its cover.”

“Your first wife?” Emma queried softly.

“Yes, she unfortunately passed away, many years ago,” he looked wistfully sad, “Mary Margaret was just a child when we lost my dear Eva. But we think of her every day.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Emma said sincerely.

Leopold nodded his gratitude, “with my dear Mary Margaret beside me I find the strength I need to carry on.”

Emma smiled, “do you have any other children?”

“I do,” Leopold nodded as he turned one of many wooden-framed pictures that sat on his desk around, “I have a son with my second wife, his name is Henry.”

Before Emma had too much time to dwell on the somehow distasteful fact that he introduced Henry as the son he had with his second wife she found herself staring at the photograph Leopold showed her. It was of Regina and Henry embracing each other and smiling at the camera, “is.. this your second wife?”

“Yes, that’s Regina,” Leopold said and quickly turned the frame around again and turned another frame around to show a photograph of Mary Margaret, “this is my Mary Margaret.”

Emma smiled and nodded politely as Leopold lifted the frame and looked at it with pride, “she is to be a published author.”

Emma nodded and commented how proud he must be, she looked at the backs of the frames on his desk and knew without even looking that the majority of them contained pictures of Mary Margaret.

“I’m sure you will meet her if you stay a few days? Are you staying for a while?” Leopold asked kindly, “we’re not much of a tourist trap but we do have a good bed and breakfast in Granny’s Diner, just ask to speak to Ruby.”

“I’d love to stay a while,” Emma grinned, “hopefully we’ll meet again,” she said as she stood up and nodded politely at the man.

“Hopefully we will. And if there is anything I can do to make your stay in our little town more pleasant then please let me know,” he stood up and kindly led her to the door, “it is so nice to have visitors.”

 

Emma burst into Gold’s pawnbroker’s shop, never so happy to see the man who stood smirking at her as if he had been expecting her to enter the shop at that very moment.

“Miss Swan,” he greeted her by her name and she visible sagged with relief that someone knows who she is, even if it was Gold.

“What the hell is going on?” Emma asked as she approached one of the glass display counters and leant heavily on it as she stared at him expectantly.

“Welcome to Storybrooke,” Gold smiled mischievously as he gestured his hands with a flourish.

“Everything’s wrong,” Emma told him tersely.

“No,” he raised a knowing finger in the air, “everything is different.”

“Why is it different?” Emma asked with a sigh.

“Because of you, of course, Dearie,” Gold said as he splayed his hands out towards her dramatically, “because of you Belle fell in love with me. Despite her reservations, she was so terrified that she may miss out on her one True Love,” he sang the words in that way that made Emma want to punch him in the face.

“I don’t understand,” Emma conceded with a sigh.

“Of course you don’t, if you did you wouldn’t have meddled,” Gold laughed, “Belle convinced me to love her. And I did, for a while, some might say that she was the thing I loved the most. But as the Dark One I knew I had to get back to Bae to make everything right. So you know what I did?”

He leaned close to Emma as if sharing a big secret and she leaned in closely to him.

“I killed her!” Gold hissed before giggling manically, “and because of that it meant I didn’t need poor, old Regina any more. This isn’t Regina’s curse, Miss Swan, it’s mine,” he stated firmly.

Emma took a step back in horror, “Regina didn’t sacrifice her father to cast the curse, you sacrificed Belle.”

“Correct!” Gold announced proudly, “after your unscheduled visit things changed quite dramatically.”

“But you still cast the curse?” Emma frowned.

“Of course, how else was I supposed to get to this world?” Gold asked her with a shake of the head. 

“So you cast the curse, created Storybrooke but it’s.. different.. they are all still here but..” Emma couldn’t wrap her head around what was going on.

“I had no need to curse everyone with an unhappy ending, that was Regina’s desire, not mine,” Gold elaborated, “all I needed was to cast a curse to bring everyone to a land without magic. A curse that could be broken by the Saviour, on her twenty-eighth birthday, happy birthday by the way, Miss Swan.”

“What about Henry?” Emma asked anxiously.

“He’s here,” Gold confirmed with a nod, “in this timeline I also procured the child but this time it was for Mayor Leopold Blanchard because he was frustrated with his wife’s inability to conceive a child. Or maybe to keep her occupied, I don’t recall the exact details. But Henry Blanchard doesn’t know that he is adopted and has never set eyes on the book.”

“So, he doesn’t suspect Storybrooke to be under a curse?” Emma sighed.

“Well, I’m sure a curious ten-year-old would note something is wrong with this town, even if not quite figuring out all of the details of the curse,” Gold shrugged, “but that’s your problem, not mine.”

Emma opened her mouth to speak but the sound of the door opening and the shop bell ringing distracted her and she turned to see Regina timidly entering the shop. Taking a second to evaluate this new Regina Blanchard, Emma noted that the proud, strong woman she knew seemed absent. This Regina was somehow smaller, still impeccably dressed but with gentler makeup, the fierceness of her demeanour all but vanished. 

“Oh, hello,” Regina mumbled in Emma’s direction shyly before handing Gold an envelope, “Mister Gold, my husband would be very pleased if you could join us for dinner tomorrow evening to celebrate Mary Margaret’s book being published, as you were so instrumental in its success.”

Gold took the envelope with a smile and gestured towards Emma, “Mrs Blanchard, may I introduce Miss Emma Swan, she is an old friend of mine and will be visiting Storybrooke for a while.”

Regina politely held out her hand and when Emma shook the proffered hand she found it to be weak and almost shaking, Regina’s eyes not quite meeting Emma’s as they flicked between the ground and various points in the shop.

“I’d like to bring Emma as my plus one to dinner tomorrow,” Gold announced and Emma looked at him sharply for inviting her to dinner without asking the hostess for permission.

“Oh, of course, that would be lovely,” Regina said with practiced diplomacy, “well, I should be going,” she said as she quickly made her exit from the shop.

“What the hell happened to her?” Emma asked Gold angrily as soon as Regina was out of sight.

Gold simply shrugged with disinterest, “she never became the Evil Queen.”

“But.. look at her,” Emma pushed the point.

Gold sighed, “I stopped tutoring her, she stopped using magic and she remained the King’s wife,” he shrugged again, “and there you have the results of that. Why do you care anyway? I would have thought you would like to see Regina taken down a peg or two after all the run-ins you had with her?”

Emma was flustered for a moment while she considered why it had bothered her, eventually she looked at Gold determinedly, “because whoever she is, that is the woman raising my son.”

Gold looked at her like he only partially believed her and she couldn’t blame him because it sounded hollow even to Emma’s ears. 

 

Emma never thought she would miss Granny’s uniquely retro styling but stepping into the diner just felt wrong. While the name remained the same Granny’s could not have been any more different, it had more of a coffee chain feel to it than the familiar sixties stylings she remembered.

Behind the counter Emma barely recognised Ruby as she was the polar opposite of her cursed persona, this Ruby wore black slacks, a crisp long-sleeved white shirt and a black apron bearing her name. She smiles politely at customers but she’s not the same Ruby that Emma knew.

“Hi there,” Emma approached the counter with a smile, “I hear you rent out rooms?”

Ruby looked at Emma in confusion, “yes, we do..”

“Great,” Emma said and noticed that Ruby wasn’t responding, “I’d.. I’d like to rent a room if I can?”

“Oh! Oh, sure,” Ruby smiled, “come on through to the office,” she waved her arm for Emma to follow her through to the back rooms of the diner, “sorry, we just never have any visitors in town. I’ve often wondered why I even bother having the rooms! I can’t remember the last time we had an visitors.. not that they’re not kept in pristine condition.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Emma smile politely, “do you mind me asking why the place is called Granny’s? Doesn’t seem like a Granny’s.”

“I named it Granny’s after my Granny, I don’t think she’d have had it quite like this but it reminds me of her, just hearing people say it you know? Keeps her in my memory,” Ruby said as she flipped open a guestbook.

“I know what you mean,” Emma said.

They spoke for a while as Ruby explained the rooms and the rules of the house and Emma paid for a week in advance. Emma felt strangely unsettled with this new Ruby, she got the impression that this Ruby had lost her grandmother at a young age and had to grow up fast as a result. There was no fun, no playfulness just a serious businesswoman struggling to keep on top of so many things.

After Emma had been given the key and a quick tour she walked back to the Sheriff’s office to pick up the Bug and parked it in the lot behind Granny’s and unpacked her one bag quickly and efficiently. She went back downstairs and into the diner to order lunch and sat in a booth by herself with a copy of the Storybrooke Mirror to try to get up to speed on town goings-on.

Emma had her back to the door but a large mirror on the opposite wall allowed her to look up and see what was happening behind her. As people entered and exited the diner she looked up to see if she recognised them, trying to make a mental list of people. Ruby’s approximation of a cheeseburger and fries was placed in front of her and Emma thanked the waitress as she heard the door open again. 

Looking up she felt her breath snatched away from her by the sight of Henry, ten-year-old Henry. All little and cute, in his school uniform and with a backpack as big as his entire torso. Behind him was Regina and they entered the diner in deep, hushed conversation about something until Regina pointed and they sat in the booth behind Emma.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Mom?” Henry asked earnestly and Emma smiled to herself at his young tones as she attempted to look engrossed in her newspaper.

“Absolutely fine, Henry,” Regina said softly but even Emma wasn’t buying it.

A waitress came over to take their order and Henry predictably had a cheeseburger, fries and a hot chocolate while Regina ordered a smoothie with kale and some things Emma had never heard of before.

“Why don’t you ever eat anything fun?” Henry asked with a sigh.

“Because some of us have to watch our weight,” Regina answered lightly, “I’ll have something more substantial for dinner.”

“You’ll have salad, you always do, because of him,” Henry groused.

“Henry,” Regina admonished lightly and Emma could feel the brunette looking around in case anyone had overheard his comment, “speaking of dinner, tomorrow we are having a small function at the house to celebrate your sister’s book.”

“Okay,” Henry said easily, “so I have to stay upstairs as usual, right?”

“Henry,” Regina implored.

“No, it’s okay, Mom, I know he doesn’t want me there because I don’t suck up to him and Mary Margaret,” Henry shrugged lightly.

“That’s not the case,” Regina argued with tired exasperation, “he.. would rather you stay out of sight because of these silly fantasies you keep talking about.”

“Mom,” Henry argued, “things aren’t right here, I don’t know why you can’t see it!”

“Henry,” Regina said firmly and Henry fell silent. Emma noticed as Regina looked around the diner again before she spoke once more but this time in a softer tone, “Henry, darling, I really wish you would let go of these silly ideas. I love you so much and you know how angry your father gets when he hears you talking about your theories.”

“I don’t care what he thinks,” Henry replied with the stubbornness of a child.

“I mean he will be angry with me,” Regina clarified in a voice so low that Emma nearly missed it.

A short pause followed before Henry spoke again, “okay, sorry, Mom,” he said sadly.

Emma was fast approaching the point the point where she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from speaking up so she quickly got out of the booth and walked over to the counter to pay. As she was leaving she saw Regina call out to her and wave her over to the table.

“Hello again Miss Swan,” Regina said with a nod, “I wanted to introduce you to my son, Henry.”

“Hello Henry,” Emma smiled warmly.

“What are you doing here?” Henry asked with a frown.

“Henry, don’t be rude!” Regina admonished and started to apologise to Emma for his behaviour.

“No problem,” Emma smiled, “I’m just visiting, passing through,” Emma told Henry.

“We never get any visitors around here,” Henry looked at her with confusion.

“Well, maybe things are changing around here,” Emma said with a wink at the boy.

She said goodbye to the two of them, telling Regina that she was looking forward to dinner as she left.


	3. Chapter 3

After a quick stop at a shop to purchase some notepaper and a pen Emma is back in her room at the bed and breakfast making extensive notes about what she has seen. Clearly her small conversation with Belle has had massive ramifications on the timeline and she figures that the better a picture she can get of this new Storybrooke the more likely she’ll be able to find a way to fix her mess.

With frustration she promises herself that she will no longer play around with serious things like time portals and magic. In the past she has casually drifted along and when mistakes were made people were there to sort things out but now those people were gone and alone she realised she had no idea what to do. While Henry was alive and well he was different and Emma felt with a cold detachment that she might as well have lost her son, he looked at Regina the way he used to look at Emma. Not that there was anything wrong with that, for all intents and purposes she is his mother but now Emma knew what it felt like to be on the outside of that circle of trust. Realising suddenly that this horrible feeling must be akin to what Regina must have felt when Emma had arrived in Storybrooke the previous time, though much worse as Regina had ten years of Henry’s company ripped away from her. 

With a shudder she continued to make notes about what she had discovered so far and what she needed to do the next day. She needed magic, magic had got her into this mess and no doubt magic would be the solution to get her out of it. But Storybrooke during the curse was free of magic and worse she only had Rumpelstiltskin to help her. Emma rubbed her hands on her face in frustration and flopped back on her bed as she stared at the ceiling and wondered what the hell she was going to do.

The exhaustion from the last two days swept in quickly and Emma fell into a deep sleep, only to be awoken by a knocking at the door. Stumbling to get up and off of the bed she realised it was dark outside and saw that it was ten o’clock in the evening. She opened the door and was surprised to see Henry standing in the doorway with an anxious expression, he had been biting his lip but as Emma opened the door he barged his way into her room and sat on her bed.

“Come in,” Emma said lightly as she closed the door and folded her arms as she looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

“Why are you in town?” Henry asked her outright.

“I told you, I’m just passing through,” Emma said with a shrug.

“No one ever passes through, there has never been a visitor to Storybrooke. Ever,” he tells her firmly and looks at her with a frown.

Emma had already decided that approaching Henry out of the blue would be a bad idea, he had a mom and a dad these days and things at home didn’t seem to be as great as the family photograph she had seen in the Storybrooke Mirror over lunch. She didn’t want to rock the boat but she needed to see what Henry was thinking, she wanted to know what Regina meant when she spoke of his silly fantasies. 

“Sorry, Kid,” Emma shrugged as she sat at the chair in front of the desk and looked at him, “I don’t know what to tell you, I am just passing through.”

Henry regarded her curiously for a few seconds before finally nodding, “what do you think of Storybrooke so far?”

The overly casual questioning made Emma smile, “I think it’s a nice town but I’ve only been here a few hours, what do you think of Storybrooke?”

“It’s weird,” Henry announced quickly as he looked at her earnestly, “you can see it’s weird can’t you?

“Weird how?” Emma frowned, giving him the impression that she was seriously thinking about his comment.

“Nothing ever changes, like ever. People don’t change,” he said quickly, “like.. like they are stuck. And they can’t remember stuff.”

“But you’re not effected?” Emma asked.

“No, but I’m the only one, and maybe you. I haven’t decided yet,” Henry told her.

“Well,” Emma smiled, “I can remember stuff, I don’t think I’m stuck. But maybe we should keep an eye on each other and make sure? What do you say, Kid?”

Henry cocked his head to the side and looked at her thoughtfully, “okay,” he eventually nodded his agreement.

“Is there anyone else we can trust?” Emma asked offhandedly, “your mom and dad maybe?”

Immediately Henry stiffened and Emma’s heart rate increased as she wondered what the story behind that was, “no,” he mumbled, “just you and me.”

“Okay,” Emma concurred, “just you and me.. hey, maybe we should make it official and give it a cool name. You know, like.. operation cobra?”

“That’s dumb,” Henry told her with a sigh.

Emma recovered quickly but she would later reflect on the rejection like a punch to the gut, “okay, well I’m going to call it that anyway, that’s what you do when you go deep undercover.”

“You go undercover?” Henry asked with interest.

“Yeah, I find people,” Emma told him, “sometimes I have to go undercover to do that.”

“Cool,” Henry smiled at her and for a moment Emma felt herself reconnecting with the boy, with her son. But it faded all too fast, “my dad’s the mayor,” he admitted quietly as he looked at his feet which were dangling off of the bed.

“Yeah, I’ve met him,” Emma confessed.

Henry’s head snapped up, “why?”

“Just.. in passing,” Emma lied, she didn’t need Henry thinking that she sought out the mayor deliberately, he wouldn’t understand.

“Oh,” Henry said quietly.

“He mentioned you, showed me your photo,” Emma said with a soft smile.

Henry let out a small chuckle, “and Mary Margaret’s I bet.”

“Yeah,” Emma nodded, “he’s your sister’s number one fan, eh?”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed, “me and Mom don’t exist to him, he’s too hung up on his first wife and his perfect daughter.”

“Hey,” Emma took a step closer and knelt in front of him and looked up at him kindly, “I’m sure that’s not true, I’m sure he loves you all equally.”

Henry looked down at her and shook his head softly, “no offence or anything but you don’t’ really know what you’re talking about.”

“I know I’m new in town but you can trust me,” Emma informed him softly.

Henry looked at her for a few moments, searching her face and analysing this new person before him to try to ascertain whether her words were true. Eventually he looked away from her face and down to his dangling feet again and spoke, “I’m not a stupid kid.”

“I don’t think that,” Emma told him carefully.

She watched the warring emotions on his face until he sagged and continued talking in a small voice, “he doesn’t care about me, he never really wanted me. I don’t even know why they had me.”

“Your mom loves you though, right?” Emma asked.

“Yeah,” Henry smiled at the thought and Emma felt relief surge through her that Regina was being just a good mother in this timeline as she had been in the previous.

“But he makes her sad,” Henry admitted in a low voice, “and when I don’t behave he takes it out on her.”

“Henry,” Emma said his name gently to get him to look at her and when he did she looked at him firmly and with as much promise as she could muster, “you may not know me but I feel like I know you, and your mom, and I promise that you can both trust me. And I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure that you are both okay.”

Henry smiled but he was still uncertain as he asked, “but why?”

Emma was about to say that was what heroes do but she remembered that this was a very different Henry that she was dealing with, “because that’s what good people do,” she said instead.

Emma suddenly remembered the late hour and her memory flashed back to the first time she met Henry and he ran away from home, Regina had been beside herself with worry. 

“Kid, we need to get you home,” Emma announced as she stood up and grabbed her boots and sat on the edge of the bed as she put them on.

Henry regarded her quietly as she put her boots on and tossed her jacket on and grabbed her keys, “come on,” she said and indicated the door to him.

With a sigh he stood up and they walked downstairs and towards the Bug. Emma noticed that Henry smiled when he saw the car, probably thinking it was a funny shape and colour and she started to remember the previous times they had been driving in that car. Except they hadn’t, she sighed as she thought about all the memories she had that would probably never happen and with frustration wondered how on earth she was going to fix everything.

They silently drove to Mifflin Street and as they pulled up outside number 108 Henry looked at Emma with a raised eyebrow. Emma looked at him in return, “what?”

“How do you know where I live?” Henry asked in confusion, “I never told you where I lived and you drive straight here.”

“Oh,” Emma fumbled for a moment, “it was.. on the invitation your mum gave me for dinner tomorrow, I just kinda remembered it.”

Henry regarded her for a moment and it was clear that he wasn’t convinced with Emma’s answer but Emma didn’t want to dwell on it, all she wanted to do was get him back home, back to Regina.

“Come on, let’s go,” Emma said and opened the door and got out of the car, once he joined her they walked up the path together and as if repeating the exact actions of Emma’s first time meeting Regina.

The front door swung open and Regina ran towards Henry, replicating the day so clearly in Emma’s mind that she found herself stunned into silence. Looking up she saw Leopold move to stand in the doorway, he frowned at Henry, “young man,” he announced loudly, “you are grounded for one week for wasting Miss Swan’s time.”

Regina turned around, still holding Henry close to her side, “but, Leopold..”

Leopold looked at Regina and she immediately quietened and spoke softly to Henry about getting him inside. She cast a grateful look at Emma who gave a weak smile, not sure what else to do now she was trapped in the middle of some awkward domestic argument.

As mother and son quietly passed Leopold the man walked out onto the porch and looked down at where Emma had paused on the path, “thank you so much for bringing him safely home, I hope he wasn’t too much trouble? I do apologise for him.”

Emma bristled at the fact the man had no desire to know what had happened and was content to apologise for his son’s behaviour without an inkling of what it even was.

“No need to apologise,” Emma told him politely, not wanting to elaborate on Henry’s visit, “he’s a great kid.”

Leopold nodded but quickly changed the subject, “Mister Gold informs me that you’ll be joining us for dinner tomorrow evening, I do look forward to seeing you again soon, Miss Swan. And, again, apologies.”

Deciding that she had nothing nice to say Emma merely smiled and nodded as she backed away from the house. She heard Leopold call out a friendly goodnight before the door closed, getting into the Bug she looked up at the house and could see a silhouette of Regina in an upstairs bedroom looking down at her. 

Emma briefly considered offering a friendly wave up to the window but she barely knew this Regina and she was still uncertain of how to act. Instead she put the Bug into drive and headed back to her room at Granny’s.

~*~*~*~

When Emma returned to the Bed and Breakfast she quickly put all of her paperwork away, grateful that Henry hadn’t noticed any of it when he had turned up unexpectedly. Getting undressed into just her tank top and panties she washed up and brushed her teeth before getting into bed and attempting to get some sleep. She knew it would be difficult, especially after the uncomfortable encounter with Leopold and what Henry had told her about the man and how he was treating her son, even if he didn’t know it was her son. 

Suddenly being on the other side, the outside, she found herself having a lot more respect for how Regina felt when Emma first rolled into town. No wonder the brunette had gone off the deep end and had done everything she could think of to keep Emma away from her son. She was trying to keep him close, to protect him from a perceived danger and now Emma could see that Leopold was her own perceived danger. 

Emma felt for sure that Leopold wouldn’t physically hurt Henry, he didn’t seem the type. She had been in enough foster homes to know the type of man who was violent towards children but that didn’t mean that Leopold wasn’t engaging in his own unique form of cruelty. The man seemed obsessed with his former wife and his daughter, even going as far as to speak about his widow before his current wife with Emma who was a complete stranger to him. She couldn’t imagine being married to the man who seemed to have no love for his wife, in the very few interactions Emma had had with him he seemed to regard Regina as an afterthought. 

After tossing, turning and worrying for some time Emma finally fell asleep and started to dream of Storybrooke, her Storybrooke. A celebration at Granny’s with the older woman herself loudly cheering and pouring drinks, Emma with her Sheriff’s badge proudly on display on her belt. Her parents somewhat smothering her and her baby brother. She never knew how precious these things were nor how fragile and she cursed herself for not acting quicker when the white light appeared and she was sucked back in time.

A gentle but persistent knocking on the door woke Emma and she looked at the clock to see it was nearly three in the morning. With a sigh she got out of bed and wondered if it would be Henry again and mentally prepared herself for round two with Leopold regarding his runner of a son.

Switching on the main light and pulling the door open she only had a moment to comprehend that it wasn’t Henry standing at her door at all, it was Regina. Who quickly entered the room to get out of the hallway, presumably where someone could see her judging by her nervous disposition. Emma closed the door and turned to look at Regina and was about to speak when she noticed that the brunette was wearing a nightgown with a dark, black trench coat over the top and a pair of worn sneakers on her feet. 

Noticing that the woman was freezing cold and gently shaking with either cold or perhaps fear Emma quickly guided the brunette to sit on the bed and wrapped the comforter around her shoulders to provide her with some warmth.

“I am sorry for turning up like this,” Regina started, not making eye contact with the blonde who stood in front of her regarding her with concern, “I.. I was worried about what Henry might have said to you earlier.”

Before Emma had a chance to speak Regina looked up at Emma with sad, dark brown eyes, “he’s a troubled, young boy with lots of strange ideas and theories. You should disregard whatever he might have told you.”

“He told me that you’re unhappy,” Emma admitted quietly as she sat in the same chair she had sat in when Henry had visited her five hours earlier.

A hesitation preceded Regina’s forced smile and, “I’m fine, really.”

“Henry doesn’t seem to think so, he seems to think you and your husband are having.. difficulties?” Emma mused that she never would have been this brave with her Regina but this Regina seemed timid and fearful and Emma had an overwhelming urge to help her.

Regina shook her head, a little too quick of a denial for Emma’s liking, “we’re fine, really we are. Leopold has a stressful job,” she said, the statement rolling off her tongue in a practiced manner, “but I’m really here to beg for your silence, for Henry’s sake.”

Emma nodded, “won’t your husband wonder where have gotten to in the middle of the night?”

Nervous energy flicked in Regina’s eyes but she shook her head, “no, he has had a drink this evening so he will be out like a light.”

“And why not come and see me in the morning?” Emma pushed gently.

“I.. I was concerned,” Regina admitted, “I wanted to speak with you now, I do apologise for the late hour.”

Emma was about to state that the late hour didn’t bother her but at that moment Regina shifted the comforter around her and Emma’s eyes zeroed in on Regina’s wrist. The comforter had moved the loose material of the trench coat sleeve up and exposed bruising on Regina’s small wrist.

Regina saw Emma’s expression and quickly pulled her sleeve down, “I.. bruise easily, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Regina said softly.

“Thank you for not saying some ridiculous lie like you fell,” Emma breathed.

“He doesn’t mean to hurt me,” Regina explained, “he just doesn’t know his own strength.”

The mentioned of her husband seemed to jolt Regina back to reality and she stood up and shrugged off the comforter and laid it back on the bed, “I should get back before I’m missed.”

Emma looked at the cold and frightened woman, a shadow of the Regina she knew, “how did you get here?”

“I walked,” Regina said as she pushed her hands into the pockets of her coat.

“Let me drive you back, it’s freezing,” Emma said as she picked up the jeans she had tossed over the back of her chair and looked at Regina.

“No, I.. no I really must get going before..” Regina shook her head, “will you keep Henry and I’s secrets?”

“Yes,” Emma said immediately, “of course.”

“Thank you,” Regina smiled tightly, “I really must get back.”

Before Emma had the chance to offer to drive her again Regina left the room leaving Emma to collapse heavily onto the bed and stare at the ceiling as she considered what to do next.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite a night of broken sleep Emma was up early to start her reconnaissance of the new Storybrooke. Her first mission was to get an accurate picture of who was no longer in town, who was and what roles they held. By mid-morning she had discovered that Graham didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight, neither was Victor Whale, Jefferson, her father nor three of the seven dwarves. 

Emma’s interference in the timeline had resulted in many changes and she had worked out that this curse had been cast earlier by Gold. It wasn’t easily noticeable but Emma had noticed that some of the younger children in Storybrooke were younger than that had been when she first arrived in her original timeline. She guessed that Gold had cast his curse around a year before Regina’s original curse, not that that helped her, things were still different. Conversations with people about timescales were difficult with the curse meaning that they became easily confused, a few times that morning Emma had ended up thoroughly confusing people with her questions and eventually leaving them standing dazed as she moved on.

Around midday she entered Gold’s shop and without greeting him asked, “why is everything so different here?”

“Different, how?” Gold asked as he handwrote archive cards for his files.

“Where’s.. I dunno, Whale?” Emma asked with a shrug as she produced a random question from her head.

“Victor was from another realm,” Gold answered distractedly.

“So? He was in the original Storybrooke, why is he not in this one?” Emma pressed the issue.

“Because I didn’t meet him in your timeline because I didn’t need him,” Gold answered curtly.

Emma leaned forward and snatched the pen out of his hand, “if you want my help breaking this curse then I want some answers.”

With a long sigh he stood up straighter and leaned on the counter, “fine,” he bit out irritably, “in your timeline I needed to introduce Regina to Victor, as that didn’t happen in my timeline, he isn’t here.”

He reached for the pen but Emma held it away as she considered the matter, “wait, so, Victor is Doctor Frankenstein, right?”

Gold rolled his eyes, “yes, I suppose you’d call him that.”

“So.. why did Regina need to meet him? In my timeline, I mean?” Emma asked with a shake of the head.

“Because at that time she was consumed with grief for her deceased beloved and mistakenly believed he could be brought back, I had to introduce her to Whale to change her grief to rage, to make her stronger,” Gold said as he reached forward and snatched the pen out of Emma’s hand.

She glared at him as he continued to write his archive notes, “you’re a real bastard, you know that?”

“I do,” Gold confirmed coldly and with disinterest.

“So, how am I supposed to break the curse?” Emma asked, “because the last time I just had to believe and this time I’m here and I clearly believe but nothing has changed. The clock hasn’t even started moving.”

Gold paused writing and stood up, “yes, I have noticed that your arrival doesn’t seem to be having the desired effect. Though I still believe that you and Henry are the key.”

“Well, Henry knows that something is up but he’s certainly not blaming it on a curse just yet,” Emma said with a shrug, “last time Henry worked it out because of his book, maybe we need to start there?”

“Indeed, Miss Swan,” Gold nodded, “that would appear to be a good starting point.”

“So, where’s the book?” Emma asked.

“I have no idea,” he said as he placed an archive card in a small wooden box.

“Great,” Emma sighed as she rolled her eyes and turned around.

“Last time it was found by Miss Blanchard, maybe she found it again this time but for some reason didn’t pass it to Henry?” Gold suggested.

“Maybe,” Emma nodded, “I’ll check it out, is she still at the school?”

“She is,” Gold confirmed to Emma as he continued writing his archive notes, effectively dismissing her.

~*~*~*~*~

The first thing Emma noticed was that the school was smaller and somehow less grand, not quite rundown but certainly not as well looked after as it had been back in her Storybrooke. She briefly wondered if that was down to Gold’s construction of the town or Leopold’s running of it.

Children were running around the playground excitedly but Emma couldn’t see Henry anywhere as she crossed towards the main building.

“Can I help you?”

Emma turned around to see Mary Margaret approaching her. It took all Emma’s strength not to burst into a smile and launch herself into her mother’s arms and she wondered when she had so naturally been able to think of the woman as her mother. 

“Hi,” Emma smiled warmly, “I’m Emma, Emma Swan, I just wanted to check out the school. I have a boy back home in Boston and we’re thinking of moving here.”

“Oh, how wonderful,” Mary Margaret smiled, “I’m Mary Margaret Blanchard, I’m the deputy principal here, I’d love to show you around?”

Emma had to prevent the laugh that bubbled up in her throat from escaping as she wondered how her mother had snagged the deputy principal role and immediately consider that nepotism played a role in that particular promotion. 

“That would be lovely, I don’t mean to be a bother though?” Emma asked, “I know I just kinda showed up!”

“No problem at all, I can’t remember the last time we had a visitor,” Mary Margaret frowned as she considered the fact.

“Well, if you’re not busy I’d love a tour from the deputy principal,” Emma smiled as she tried to shake Mary Margaret off of the thought of when exactly they had last had a visitor.

They entered the building and Mary Margaret started to show Emma the facilities of the school, much the same as Emma’s own version but with minor changes here and there.

After a while Emma decided to move the conversation onto more personal topics, “so, have you lived in Storybrooke for long?”

“All my life,” Mary Margaret grinned with pride, “my father is the mayor.”

“Oh, Blanchard,” Emma said as if suddenly making the connection, “I met your father yesterday. He actually mentioned you and invited me to dinner tonight but he didn’t mention that you were deputy principal.”

“Really?” Mary Margaret looked happy at the mention of her father, “I hope he didn’t go on too much,” she laughed, “I’m having a book published and he really is beside himself with pride.”

“He loves you very much,” Emma commented, “is it just the two of you here in town?”

“No, there’s my brother, Henry, and my step-mother, Regina. But Regina is more of an older sister and best friend than step-mother,” Mary Margaret explained, “my mother died when I was nine and my father remarried a year later.. excuse me one moment.”

Something had caught Mary Margaret’s attention and she quickly excused herself as she walked into a room leaving Emma to work out some maths. Her Mary Margaret was twenty-nine which meant this one was around twenty-eight and if Eva died when Mary Margaret was nine and Leopold remarried when she was ten. Emma swallowed as she mentally recalculated to check she was correct. If she, generously, assumed that Leopold was fifty-five then he must have been thirty-seven when he married a nineteen year old Regina. Emma shivered a little at the thought and then again when she realised that Regina had been married to Leopold for eighteen years and then stuck in the curse for another twenty-eight years. 

“Sorry about that,” Mary Margaret said as she reappeared, “are you okay, you look a little pale?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Emma shook the unsavoury thoughts away from her mind, “just missed lunch, is everything okay?”

At Emma’s point towards the room Mary Margaret had been in the pixie-haired brunette rolled her eyes, “yes, my brother Henry is in detention.”

“Oh dear,” Emma winced, feeling somehow responsible for Henry’s behaviour even though it was impossible, “I met your brother yesterday as well, he doesn’t seem like the sort to get into trouble?”

“Not usually,” Mary Margaret sighed as they continued walking up the corridor, “he’s been acting out more and more lately, he.. he has an overactive imagination.”

“Must run in the family,” Emma commented, “with you being a writer.”

“Oh, I’m not a writer, more a curator,” Mary Margaret smiled, “the book that is being published is about old fairy tales but with some modern twists. Nothing that hasn’t been done before, I’m sure, but the publishers seem to like it.”

“Sounds interesting, where did you get the idea?” Emma asked, hoping she sounded casual and not as desperate as she was feeling.

“You know,” Mary Margaret laughed, “it’s strange.. we live in an old house and one day I was clearing out my wardrobe and at the back I found this really old, very beautiful storybook, filled with fairy tales. Some I had heard before but some were completely new to me. But I’d never seen the book before, I have no idea where it came from.”

“Sounds like you should write a book about how you found a book that inspired you to write your book,” Emma commented.

Mary Margaret laughed, “maybe I should!”

“I’d love to see the book, if you still have it?” Emma asked as the exited the building.

“Yes, oh yes, you must see it when you come to dinner tonight,” Mary Margaret promised, “well, that’s the school, if you have any questions we can talk over dinner if you like? Anything to stop my father from going on and on about me, I get so embarrassed!”

Emma chuckled, “isn’t it a father’s job to be proud of his daughter?”

Emma didn’t quite catch Mary Margaret’s reply as her thoughts went to her own father, David. Mary Margaret seemed to live at home with her parents and hadn’t spoken of David which Emma couldn’t imagine would be the case if he were around. But the fact that Emma was there surely meant that David had at one point been around. She decided not to press the issue with Mary Margaret and take it up with Gold instead as she said goodbye to the woman and walked out of the school gates.

While walking back towards town Emma saw Leopold walking towards her with a wide smile, “Miss Swan, so lovely to see you again,” he said with his hand outstretched to shake her hand warmly.

“Thank you,” Emma smiled at the kind man, “I just saw your daughter as a matter of fact.”

“That is just where I am heading,” he explained, “I have a meeting with the governors, so much red tape!”

“Ah, the life of the Mayor,” Emma grinned, “I didn’t realise your daughter was deputy principal.”

“Oh, yes, my Mary Margaret has many feathers to her bow,” Leopold said and Emma stifled a smile as the mental picture of her own mother with her bow and arrows came to mind, “she is so very talented, she inherits it from her mother, my dear Eva.”

“And I’m sure your current wife, Regina, was it? I’m sure she plays a role in Mary Margaret’s success, Mary Margaret spoke highly of her,” Emma said, pushing the boundaries a little with her annoyance at Leopold’s obsession with his long-dead first wife.

“It is true that Regina is an exceptionally good mother to Mary Margaret,” Leopold agreed but Emma could tell it almost pained him to admit the fact, “sadly Regina is.. somewhat unsteady, if you know what I mean?”

“No, I’m not sure I do?” Emma questioned gently.

“She’s a wonderful woman but she does need a quiet life,” Leopold elaborated, “she cannot be taxed or she becomes overemotional. She is cursed with a sensitive disposition.”

Emma briefly considered that that wasn’t the only thing she was cursed with but kept a lid on her thoughts and simply nodded, “I understand.”

“However,” Leopold said quickly, changing the subject, “I believe you have met Sheriff Hopper? He told me of your previous experience and, if you should consider staying in town, we’d love for you to consider the deputy position, if you’d be interested that is?”

“That sounds great,” Emma smiled, “I’d definitely be interested.”

“Wonderful,” Leopold clasped his hands together happily, “then I recommend that you speak with him whenever you have some free time and he will be able to tell you more about the role.”

“I will, I’ll go and see him now,” Emma promised with a fake smile.

“Oh, good,” he said happily, “I do love it when things come together like this and I look forward to seeing you at dinner this evening, it will be a wonderful night.”

“I’m sure it will, I’m looking forward to it,” Emma admitted and they said goodbye.


	5. Chapter 5

Emma decided quickly upon meeting the man for the second time that Archie Hopper was exactly the kind of Sheriff that Gold would want in Storybrooke. He was easily manipulated, fearful and clueless. Luckily for Emma that was exactly what she needed in a new boss so when he offered her the job she took it immediately.

The only drawback was the uniform and Archie was not going to bend on that matter like Graham had done. No, she was expected to wear the light tan shirt and black tie at all times when she was on duty and that was one of the few laws that Archie felt it his duty to implement. 

Holding her new uniform over her arm and watching as Archie filled in pieces of paperwork that she hadn’t even seen before in order to issue her with the necessary equipment for her job, Emma started to question the man to see what she could learn.

“So, Mayor Blanchard, what’s he like?”

Archie paused and considered the question, “well, he’s a good man, well liked. He has been mayor.. well.. as long as I can remember.”

“He seems,” Emma shrugged lightly, “I dunno, almost a bit too good to be true. I mean he’s so nice!”

Archie looked at her thoughtfully, “yes, I suppose he is, just makes Storybrooke lucky I guess!”

“Yeah,” Emma said, only just managing to keep the sarcasm out of her tone. Her Archie was a little brighter than this one and she wondered if she was going to get anything of interest out of her new boss.

Archie returned to his form and Emma took another opportunity to look around the immaculate office, “you sure keep things organised here.”

“There’s not a huge amount of crime in Storybrooke,” Archie admitted, “there’s plenty of time to keep the station in good order.”

“If there’s not a lot of crime, why are you hiring a deputy?” Emma questioned, immediately sensing there was more to this than he was willing to share.

“To cover holidays and to take on special projects,” Archie said but Emma noticed the waver in his voice.

“What kind of special projects?” Emma asked firmly.

“Sometimes the Mayor needs our assistance with things,” Archie said hesitantly, “admittedly, sometimes they are of a more personal nature.”

It took a lot of strength for Emma to not throw the uniform down on the desk and tell Archie exactly where he could put the job but she knew she needed the position in order to snoop around the town unnoticed. And she was curious to know what kind of personal special projects the Mayor would need the Sheriff’s department for.

“Like what?” Emma asked, attempting but failing to keep a lightness to her voice.

Archie lowered his pen, clearly understanding that he needed to tell Emma or he risked her walking away, “the mayor has a certain image to maintain,” the man began, somewhat nervously and as if repeating a speech that had been given to him rather than using his own words.

“I’ve had to intervene once or twice in the past when the Mayor’s wife or son has maybe done something that might damage that image,” Archie swallowed, hoping that Emma wouldn’t press any further.

Luckily for Archie the blonde had endured just about as much as she could stand when it came to Leopold today and didn’t feel ready for any more so she simply nodded her understanding. She knew she’d find out soon enough what Leopold had really hired her for.

“Things have calmed down a lot lately,” Archie announced happily as if to smooth the unsavoury incident away.

Before Emma had a chance to reply Mister Gold entered the office, “Sheriff Hopper,” he greeted the man pleasantly before addressing Emma, “and I hear it is now Deputy Swan? I wanted to offer my congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Emma said simply, the fact that the man had managed to turn up so soon indicated to her that he had a role to play in her newly found employment.

“Maybe we could catch up over a coffee when you are done with your paperwork?” Gold asked as he looked meaningfully at Archie.

“Oh, I think we’re done here,” Archie said as she placed some papers into a folder, “nothing we can’t sort out in the morning.”

Emma almost shook her head at the compliant nature of her new boss but simply decided to leave it be, it wasn’t her Storybrooke anyway. 

Ten minutes later she was at Granny’s and sitting in a booth opposite Gold waiting for coffee to be delivered to their table.

“Bit public to be talking here, isn’t it?” Emma commented as she gestured to the people walking around them and knowing that Gold wasn’t really there to just offer his congratulations.

Gold shrugged his shoulders, “it’s of little consequence to me, Deputy, I want the curse to break.”

Emma nodded and a waitress came and delivered drinks to the table, taking extra time to ask Mister Gold if everything was satisfactory. Emma realised that although Leopold was Mayor in this Storybrooke, Gold was certainly the one calling the shots and pulling strings.

“Speaking of which,” Gold said after a sip of hot coffee, “I haven’t noticed the curse weakening yet, I would have expected something to have changed by now.”

“Well, I spoke to Mary Margaret and she has the book, she’s going to show me tonight at dinner,” Emma informed him, “but I still don’t know how to get Henry on board with all of this.”

“That is a conundrum,” Gold admitted.

“Henry told me that he wished for answers, I mean, back in my timeline,” Emma explained, “and soon after Mary Margaret found the book and gave it to him.”

“I see,” Gold nodded with a knowing smile, “well, the wish of a tortured soul is a very powerful thing, nearly as powerful as true love’s kiss. Unfortunately for us Henry is not currently a tortured soul, while he no doubt has his questions about his surroundings he is being protected by Regina.”

“Yeah,” Emma mocked, “how terrible for us that Henry’s not in emotional distress.”

Gold rolled his eyes, “while you may not agree with my words the sentiment remains the same.”

“Well, I’m not about to make him suffer just so we can break your damn curse,” Emma hissed at him.

“I don’t very much care how you choose to break the curse, just that it is broken,” Gold shrugged.

“Maybe we should pool our efforts to change things back to my timeline, where the curse is already broken?” Emma asked.

Gold laughed derisively, “that’s no longer an option, Dearie. That reality is gone. You changed everything and now you have to deal with the consequences of your meddling, you should be grateful you didn’t wipe yourself out of existence altogether.”

“Then how am I still here?” Emma asked with frustration, “and where’s David?”

“Your father is dead,” Gold said casually, “in this timeline your grandfather sent all of his forces to try to stop me from casting the curse, your father led the strike and died for his efforts.”

Emma swallowed thickly, unable to speak at the thought that her father was gone again so soon after she had finally gotten used to having him in her life.

Gold chuckled, “you know, you may be interested to learn that in a somewhat unusual twist of fate,” he spun his hand around in the air, “in this timeline, it was Regina who placed little baby Emma into the wardrobe to escape my curse.”

“So, you’re telling me that.. my timeline is gone? But I remember it..” Emma shook her head in confusion.

“So do I, that doesn’t make it real,” Gold told her, “it’s like a dream, you can see the details of it but it’s no longer there. The sooner you let go of it and accept this as your new, true timeline the happier you’ll be. Especially once the curse is broken and I can bring magic back, then you’ll have your mother back, half a happy family is better than none for an orphan such as yourself.”

“Watch it,” Emma warned him through gritted teeth, “or I’ll get back in my car and go home to Boston.”

“Oh I don’t think you’ll leave Henry behind,” Gold smiled to himself, “and in this timeline young Henry would never leave Regina. And Regina will be unable to cross the line.”

“What would happen if she tried?” Emma asked.

“The same that happened the last time she tried, the curse will prevent her from being able to leave, by any means necessary,” Gold clarified darkly.

“She’s tried to leave before?” Emma probed.

“Of course, wouldn’t you?” Gold shrugged, “but this really is of little interest to me, Henry is the key to breaking this curse. And you’re the one who needs to make him see it.”

“And how do you propose I do that?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Deputy,” Gold said as he shuffled out of the booth and stood up and dropped some money onto the table, “I’ll pick you up in two hours for dinner. Do be ready, I don’t like being kept waiting.”


	6. Chapter 6

Emma kept Gold waiting for ten minutes, just because she could, and they drove the short distance to 108 Mifflin Street in silence. She didn’t really know what to expect at dinner other than the familiar sensation of extraordinary frustration which so far she had encountered every step of the way during her time in new Storybrooke. 

Leopold and Mary Margaret greeted them at the door, Mary Margaret immediately hugging Emma as she welcomed her into the house and showed her around. The first thing Emma noticed, like the Mayoral office, was the altered furnishings. Everything was very different to the neutral-coloured, minimalist and stylish surroundings she was used to with dark wood and antique looking furniture in every room. Leopold and Gold walked into the study to talk about business and Mary Margaret guided Emma into the sitting room where the book was laying on the coffee table. 

Just as Emma was going to make a beeline for the book Regina appeared from the kitchen wearing a black cocktail dress with a long-sleeved black blazer over the top.

“Miss Swan, lovely to see you again,” Regina held out her hand for Emma.

Emma smiled warmly and shook Regina’s hand realising absently that she had now probably experienced more skin-to-skin contact with this Regina that she had ever had with her own.

“Thank you for having me,” Emma said kindly, sharing a furtive look with Regina to let her know that her secret meeting the previous night had and would indeed remain a secret.

Regina seemed to catch on and her smile changed to one of gratitude, “Mary Margaret, dear, could you tell your father that dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”

“Oh, could you tell him?” Mary Margaret asked with too much childish indulgence for someone of her age, “I really wanted to show Emma my book.”

“I was going to get Miss Swan a drink,” Regina reasoned and Emma could see the desperation creeping into her facial expression and realised that she didn’t particularly wish to speak with her husband.

“I’d love a drink, and please call me Emma,” the blonde said lightly.

Mary Margaret seemed to take the hint and quickly excused herself to speak to her father and Regina looked at Emma, “so, Emma, would you like some wine?”

“You don’t happen to have apple cider do you?” Emma asked with a wide smile, “I’ve had the strangest craving for it all day.”

Regina blinked in surprise, “actually, yes, I.. I make it myself.”

“Really? That’s impressive,” Emma feigned surprise at the availability of the drink.

“Yes, there’s a tree in the garden, I’ve nurtured it from a sapling and now it’s quite large and I make a lot of food and drinks from the fruit. Admittedly I’m the only person who enjoys the apple cider,” Regina shrugged her shoulders lightly.

“What’s not to love about apple cider?” Emma grinned pleasantly.

“Regina, don’t monopolise our guest,” Leopold’s voice boomed as he walked up beside her with a wide smile, “Miss Swan, I see you’ve met my Regina.”

“We’ve actually met before, at Mister Gold’s shop,” Emma explained as Leopold put his arm around Regina’s back and gripped her upper arm.

“You didn’t tell me that, my dear,” Leopold addressed Regina lightly.

“It slipped my mind,” Regina replied softly, “you know what I’m like, darling.”

“It was a very quick meeting, all of thirty seconds,” Gold said as he also entered the room and Emma felt some relief at his arrival and handling of the situation. Mary Margaret pulled Emma away to look at the book and Regina set about getting drinks. 

The book looked identical to Henry’s book when she first glanced at it and she wished she had spent more time studying the original book so she could be certain. Mary Margaret was chattering on about her book and how she had chosen which stories from the original book to curate and adapt, Emma tuned her out but ensured she made all the right noises as she examined the book more carefully. 

The book seemed to look the same except any mention of the Evil Queen had been removed and in this book the Dark One, Rumpelstiltskin, took her place as the antagonist of most of the tales. A third of the way into the book Emma saw a page that made her heart rate race a little faster the title read ‘The Stranger That Never Belonged’ and the illustration showed the back of a blonde figure entering a wooded area bathed in a bright light. 

It was clearly her and Emma felt the wind knocked out of her as her hearing stopped functioning properly and time seemed to stand still as she stared at the page. With anxiety she started to flip through the subsequent pages and saw the changes in the book, stories she knew like the Huntsman and Hansel and Gretel were gone, new stories in their place. A major war between everyone in the land and the Dark One seemed to dominate the pages.

“This Rumpelstiltskin’s a bit of a monster, isn’t he?” Emma said casually towards Mary Margaret while she glanced knowingly towards Mister Gold.

“Yes, he’s fascinating as well,” Mary Margaret said, “he’s been in our fairy tales for hundreds of years in different variations.”

“I he good in any of them?” Emma laughed sarcastically.

“No,” Mary Margaret smiled, “always a villain.”

Emma turned to a story about Snow White and looked at the illustration fondly before looking at Mary Margaret, “you know, you look a lot like Snow White.”

“Well, she is the fairest in all the land,” Leopold answered with a grin as he gently patted his daughter’s shoulder with pride.

Mary Margaret laughed and looked at the picture, “no, I don’t think I do.”

“Really?” Emma asked, “I think there’s a lot of similarities.”

Regina returned with the drinks and Emma pointed the book towards the older brunette, “Regina, do you think that this picture looks like Mary Margaret?”

With a frown Regina shook her head, “no, I’m not seeing it,” she said as she looked from the book to Mary Margaret.

Regina announced that dinner would be served momentarily and asked everyone to move into the dining room, as the family exited the room Gold looked at Emma with a grin, “they won’t see it, you know.”

“Why not?” Emma asked him as she closed the book with a sigh.

“Because they don’t want to, the curse prevents them from seeing it,” Gold said as they walked towards the dining room.

“Well, that’s going to make things a whole lot harder then, isn’t it?” Emma whispered before she smiled and entered the dining room. 

They sat at the dining table and Regina set about serving a three course meal like a professional hostess would, always serving her husband first and herself last and barely eating anything. Emma internally protested at the way both Gold and Leopold ignored her until they wanted more wine and would distractedly hold their empty glass in her direction. It seemed to Emma that equal rights had yet to meet this version of Storybrooke and the men were more than happy to be served by women. Mary Margaret seemed strangely okay with this fact and content to eat her meal in semi-silence while occasionally laughing at her father’s comments. 

Emma took the opportunity to regard her grandfather with interest, despite everything she didn’t honestly believe him to be a bad man just someone from another world and another time, hopelessly out of date. He spoke to Gold about the town and disputed many of the things that Gold suggested that would bring further revenue to the town. Gold’s business empire and influence seemed bigger and more encompassing in this Storybrooke than it was in her own and he seemed anxious to flex his power at every turn.

Leopold was clearly a born diplomat, with friendly ease he spoke to probably the most notorious villain in the world and convinced him against his plans that would certainly cause hardship for the people. The Mayor clearly cared about his people, Emma remembered the old stories that her mother told her about King Leopold and his legendary kindness and she could see it in this man who sat at the head of the table. 

Which was why Emma found it so absolutely baffling that the man treated Regina with such little respect, it genuinely seemed that Leopold cared for everything but Regina. But then maybe that was unfair, maybe he did care for Regina but her overwhelming despondency to her situation was something that Leopold just didn’t know how to deal with. 

With the luxury of having seen Regina brimming with life, Emma could see that this Regina was a shell of the woman she could be. She was listless as she moved around the room and served meals and as she sat she barely ate a bite of food as she stared at her plate seemingly wishing it would all be over. Not that anyone else seemed to notice her misery, on the contrary everyone else seemed to be having a wonderful time and Emma considered that it was almost as if they thought of Regina as being completely invisible. 

Emma looked at Gold and wondered if he had somehow made it a condition of the curse that Regina was treated in this way. If he had so desperately wanted her to suffer that he had kept her married to the nicest man in town but damned her to be ignored by him. But Emma couldn’t see what purpose that would serve and if Gold was truly that vengeful then wouldn’t this Storybrooke be a living hell for other people as well rather than just Regina.

Looking to Leopold again she considered that maybe the man simply didn’t love Regina or that Regina wasn’t what he expected a wife to be. Maybe the relationship she was seeing now was a result of years of his dashed hopes combined with an unbearable grief for the loss of his first wife. She realised that it was only her who saw Regina’s misery for what it was, maybe she was the only one who bothered to look, everyone else seemed so caught up in their own life and happiness.

Emma decided that Gold, for once, had nothing to do with Regina’s current predicament or misery. And she couldn’t believe that was Leopold the kindest man to all, except for Regina, that would surely make him a psychopath and Emma didn’t think he was. Which meant that Leopold’s treatment of Regina was borne entirely out of frustration and misunderstanding. When he had spoken of her earlier that day he told Emma that Regina was unsteady and cursed with a sensitive disposition which indicated to Emma that he cared for Regina but he didn’t know how to respond to her misery. His assertion that she required a quiet life was something Emma wouldn’t have been surprised to hear around two hundred years ago.

He cared for her in some convoluted way that Emma didn’t necessarily understand but he didn’t know how to deal with his depressed wife, presumably because he had never had to deal with it before. He was the kindly King who could make everything okay, people clearly adored him. But his wife wanted to be free of him and that was something he couldn’t understand and the one thing he was unwilling to give. 

In her life Emma had seen and experienced bruised wrists and she knew they came in many forms and she couldn’t shake the feeling that Leopold wasn’t the kind of man to deliberately hurt anyone. With a glance towards Regina she wondered if the bruising hadn’t necessarily been caused by Leopold forcing Regina to do something but rather preventing her from doing something. 

Not that any of this made it right, even if they were all caught in a horrible situation it didn’t excuse the way Regina was being treated, even if it wasn’t malicious. With the knowledge that Henry was also having difficulties with the man Emma was keen to see father and son interact so she could form more of a picture of how this family operated.

It was after dessert that Emma decided to bring up the question, “where is Henry this evening?”

Leopold looked abashed, “unfortunately my son is grounded without dinner as he had detention at school today.”

“Oh,” Emma looked surprised, “well as the new Deputy in town I have to advise you that starving him would be an offence,” she said lightly but with intent behind her words.

Leopold chuckled sombrely, “Regina and I have tried many ways to discipline Henry for his declining behaviour of late, I’m afraid we’re not sure what to do with him.”

“He’s just a young boy,” Regina commented, one of the few things she had said since dinner began and Emma sensed the intense desire to protect her son.

“Of course,” Emma smiled, “boys will be boys,” she glanced at Leopold and laughed, “he’ll probably only get worse if you don’t feed him!”

Leopold laughed at the joke and looked towards Regina and softly placed his hand over hers, “maybe a sandwich in his room?”

Regina nodded her gratitude to the man and quickly stood up to clear the plates. Emma also stood and cleared some crockery, “Regina, this was a delicious meal,” Emma announced loudly, hoping to shame the others for their silence, “let me help you with these dishes.”

“Oh, there’s no need,” Regina began to argue.

“I insist,” Emma said quickly as she picked up a plate that Regina was reaching for.

The two women entered the kitchen and Emma placed the plates by the dishwasher, “I’m sorry for getting involved in there, sometimes I can’t help myself.”

“It’s quite alright,” Regina smiled, “I’m glad you did, it saves me from having to sneak something up to him later.”

“Is this a regular occurrence?” Emma asked, attempting to keep her voice light.

“No, this is Leopold’s latest tactic,” Regina said as she picked out ingredients for what looked like it would soon be the world’s best sandwich, “he isn’t used to people disobeying him.”

“I’ll bet,” Emma mumbled.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Regina paused buttering a slice of what looked like homemade bread, “but he’s not cruel.”

“I don’t think that he is,” Emma admitted, “I think that he is.. unable to understand your pain and that pains him which makes him act irrationally.”

Regina opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again and looked at Emma with puzzlement, “you’re.. right,” she sounded confused and impressed by Emma’s ability to read the man.

“I’m good at reading people,” Emma shrugged, “it doesn’t justify his actions though.”

“No,” Regina agreed as she continued making the sandwich, “it doesn’t. But I’m afraid that’s irrelevant, we are where we are.”

“You should leave,” Emma said quietly as she stood closer to Regina.

Regina let out a nervous laugh, “I can’t,” she shook her head, “he owns the town and there is nowhere for me to go. Do you know you’re the first person I have ever met who doesn’t live in Storybrooke?”

Of course Emma could believe that Regina thought that and nodded as Regina continued, “I made vows and I intend to keep them, however long that may be for.”

Part of Emma wanted to laugh at the horrific truth that Regina was cursed to live by those vows for all eternity unless the curse was broken and probably even after then until the day she or Leopold died. She wondered if Regina had ever tried to kill this Leopold, she considered that she probably hadn’t as she seemed so docile and different to the Regina she knew.

“I know we’ve only just met,” Emma said softly, “but I want you to know that I would take you and Henry away from all of this if I could.”

Emma didn’t really know why she said it but she felt passionately that she needed to say it, to put it out there and to give Regina some kind of hope or companionship to know that she wasn’t alone. Maybe to help to give her strength. 

Regina had just cut the impressive looking sandwich in half and plated it up when Emma said it and Regina looked up at the blonde with an unreadable expression. Emma wondered if it was unreadable because Regina’s face was so out of practice at arranging itself into anything resembling happy.

Regina picked up the plate and gently leaned in to kiss Emma lightly on the cheek, “thank you, dear,” she said as she ducked her head down and quickly left the kitchen to go and feed her son.


	7. Chapter 7

When Emma returned to the dining room she noted that Mary Margaret had left the table and Gold and Leopold were looking up at Emma expectantly, she knew immediately that she had been the subject of the preceding conversation.

“We were just discussing your new role,” Gold told her with a smirk that was probably trying to be a smile.

“Yes, thank you again,” Emma said to Leopold as it seemed the appropriate response.

“You’re very welcome, I am glad you intend to stay and Mary Margaret says you have a child who will be attending the school?” Leopold asked with interest and Emma began to wonder if concocting that particular lie was perhaps a bad idea.

“Yes, quite possibly, I need to iron out some details,” Emma said, avoiding Gold’s eye as she sat in Regina’s chair next to Leopold.

“Well, I have already spoken to Sheriff Hopper and we’re in agreement that you are the perfect person for a special job,” Leopold said as he reached up and poured some wine for them all.

Emma knew it was coming but tried to look surprised, “oh yes?”

“I need someone to.. watch over my dear Regina,” Leopold told her quietly, presumably in case either of the women in his house were around to overhear.

“Oh?” Emma asked innocently, “is she in some kind of danger?”

Leopold laughed as if she were being ridiculous, “on, no, the only danger for Regina is the danger she is to herself,” he said somewhat cryptically, “no, what I mean is to watch over her and ensure that she is safe and well.”

Gold spoke next, “Regina is sometimes rather.. unbalanced, she needs a close eye and a firm hand to keep her safe, from herself.”

“I see,” Emma said, glaring daggers at Gold as Leopold got up and paced the room in front of the window.

“I couldn’t stand for anything to happen to her,” Leopold admitted, “she is so very fragile and she has.. injured herself in the past,” he turned to regard Emma, “I cannot watch her all day and night so I need assistance to ensure that she is.. safe and well.”

Emma had expected something like this and had already decided to agree to it for a number of reasons. She needed to get closer to Henry and to do that she needed to gain Regina’s trust, she also didn’t like the idea of Leopold watching over her himself so if he trusted Emma enough to do it that would allow Regina some freedom. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the man, was he bring over-protective or was he being controlling, she couldn’t tell but she knew she had to tread lightly and get a better grip on what Leopold Blanchard was about.

“I can definitely do that, Sir,” Emma replied professionally.

“Wonderful,” Leopold bounced happily on the balls of his feet, “obviously if anything comes up then please come and see me immediately, otherwise I’ll drop in and see you every few days.”

Luckily Mary Margaret chose that moment to make a reappearance and asked Emma if she would like to have another look at the book as well as her soon to be published manuscript. Emma was pleased for the distraction so joined the woman in the sitting room and listened to her mindlessly drone on about how she curated stories from the original book. Mary Margaret clearly had the air of someone who considered their work to be of the utmost importance, even if she had technically just copied and amended someone else’s work.

Emma managed to sound interested while using the opportunity to study the book but clearly she looked as invested in the old book as she truly was and Mary Margaret eventually commented, “you really like the storybook don’t you?”

“Er, yes,” Emma fumbled, realising she hadn’t been as subtle as she had hoped, “I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s so old and I’ve always loved fairy tales, it’s a very interesting book.”

“Would you like to borrow it?” Mary Margaret asked brightly, “then we could discuss it in more detail and you could give me an honest opinion on what you think of my own book.”

“That would be great,” Emma beamed, “are you sure you don’t mind me borrowing it?”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Mary Margaret smiled, clearly she had a lot more interest in her own book than the original, “it’s really great having someone new in town, I can just tell we’re going to be best friends.”

Emma managed to socialise pleasantly for another hour before she just couldn’t take it any longer and had to get out of there. Feigning exhaustion at her admittedly busy day she told Gold that she was going to walk home with the book and clear her head. The walk to Granny’s did anything but clear her head as she clutched the book to her chest and considered the new story within that indicated her massive changes to the timeline. Anxious to read the story and in fact every single other story in the book, she desperately fought against the tiredness that was threatening to take over her body. By the time she got back to Granny’s she couldn’t pretend any longer, the broken sleep from the night before and the stress was building up. She made some quick notes about what she had discovered since she last wrote in her notebook, afraid that some little detail might end up being crucial and forgotten once she allowed sleep to claim her.

She’d only been in town a couple of days and she was completely overcome with the emotional stress of the changes, the losses and the confusion. Her father was dead, killed because he was sent to battle the Dark One because Regina hadn’t become the Evil Queen. Emma had long held the belief that if Regina had really wanted to kill Mary Margaret or David she would have been able to do so long ago, the fact that she never quite managed to do it, usually due to poorly-timed posturing just didn’t hold weight with Emma. So the fact that Rumpelstiltskin had so quickly and effectively been able to massacre people was not lost on her. She felt alone, just as she had begun to figure things out and get comfortable in a family she now found David was gone and Mary Margaret was spoilt and clueless and it tore at her heart to think of them gone as tears fell down her cheeks. 

And then there was Henry, trapped in a town where he knew things were different and couldn’t convince anyone to believe him. She was surprised he was as well turned out as he was, Emma briefly shivered as she contemplated what mental state she would be in if she had grown up in a town where nothing changed and no one aged. Her thoughts settled on Leopold. He was a mystery and she couldn’t figure him out, at first she had thought him as kind and confused but towards the end of the evening she could more easily see something else in him which she knew to be frustration at his wife and son but she had yet to learn exactly what form that frustration took. She wondered how much of her desire to think well of him was due to the knowledge that they were related or the stories that her mother had told her of her grandfather. She wondered if she was being naïve in her trust in him, if Snow White had finally managed to soften her harsh outlook on life. 

She fell asleep with the pen still in her hand and the book open at the end of her bed as she just managed to commit all she had learned to paper. As she drifted off she thought about Leopold’s request that she follow Regina, she wondered where it had come from and why Leopold feared for Regina’s safety. Yes the woman was depressed but surely she wasn’t.. Emma couldn’t even bear to think about it. Her last thought was that Regina wouldn’t be the only person she’d be tailing over the coming days, she wanted to understand the Mayor, if he was going to call himself Henry’s father then she wanted to know everything about him.

~*~*~*~*~

The next day Emma entered the Sheriff’s department in her day to day clothes and was promptly sent back to the bed and breakfast by Archie to change into her uniform. Emma argued the point for a couple of minutes before realising she was arguing with the human embodiment of a conscience and that it would be pointless.

When Emma arrived back, slightly sulking that not only was she effectively demoted back to Deputy in this new Storybrooke but she was also forced to wear a uniform as well as working for Archie, of all people. She had always considered herself to be pretty adaptable, you had to be that way in the foster system as you never knew where you would be from one month to the next. It struck a chord with Emma just how much she considered Storybrooke to be her home and all these little knockbacks simply increased her resolve to find a way to fix her monumental screw up.

“So,” Emma said as she flopped in the chair in front of Archie’s desk, “I spoke to the Mayor about my new babysitting assignment.”

Archie removed his glasses and removed a clean handkerchief from his pocket and began to methodically clean the lenses, “well, Emma, I can see how you might feel that it is babysitting,” he said diplomatically, “but it certainly does fit with the Storybrooke Sheriff Department’s motto.”

With a nod of the head Archie indicated a framed document on the wall and Emma stood up and regarded it with interest. It was a mission statement and topped with the motto ‘with courage and integrity we aim to protect the rights and dignity of all Storybrooke citizens and strive to preserve the peace and provide a safe environment for all’.

Emma considered this for a moment before turning to face Archie who was putting his glasses back on, “is there something I should know?”

Archie didn’t make eye contact as he began to complete some paperwork, “I just think that maybe Regina and Henry also deserve to reap the benefits of that document, signed by the Mayor.”

With an air of finality Archie lifted the telephone receiver and started to dial some numbers and to make a call and Emma took that as a good cue to leave. Archie didn’t seem to want to elaborate on too much detail but she presumed that given time the man would open up to her more. 

Emma left the office to begin her rounds wanting to both look around Storybrooke and have the citizens of Storybrooke look at her. The more people she could connect with the greater the likelihood she could break the curse or figure a way back to her own timeline. She’d quickly come to the conclusion that she couldn’t do it alone and she hated herself for never spending any real time learning more about magic, be it her own magic or the general magic that seemed to surround the town and the some of its people. 

After an hour of walking around and introducing herself to various people she spotted Regina sitting on a bench in the park. She took a deep breath and decided to approach the brunette, “good morning,” she greeted warmly, jolting Regina from her thoughts, “sorry, I didn’t meant to sneak up on you.”

Regina calmed herself and smiled up at Emma, “oh, it’s quite alright, I’m just one of those people who jumps at every little sound,” she looked at Emma’s uniform with an appreciative smile, “so it’s Deputy Swan now then, is it?”

Emma rolled her eyes as she stood beside Regina and fidgeted with the bottom of her shirt where it had come untucked from her over-loaded utility belt that Archie had insisted that she wore.

“Yeah, Sheriff Hopper seems to think the uniform is an essential tool when it comes to maintaining order in this dangerous metropolis,” Emma shrugged.

Regina stood up and positioned herself in front of Emma and began to undo Emma’s tie, “I presume you didn’t wear a uniform in your previous role?”

It took Emma a couple of seconds to process the fact that Regina was straightening and correcting her tie and she felt her mouth go dry at the unexpected proximity, “er, no, no, we just wore.. you know.. whatever. As long as it was practical for the job.”

Regina nodded her understanding as she quickly corrected the tie and then flattened Emma’s collar, “much better,” she said with a nod.

“Thank you, I’ll come over every morning so you can do it for me, I hate ties,” Emma laughed.

“It wasn’t that bad, I’m just a stickler for details,” Regina told her lightly.

“I’m glad I saw you,” Emma decided it was time to confess and tell Regina about Leopold’s request before too much time passed, she knew that fast honesty was the only way that she was going to gain Regina’s trust.

“Oh yes?” Regina said as she gestured towards the footpath surrounding the lake for Emma to join her on a walk.

“Yes, I’m not really sure how to say this..” Emma started as she walked beside Regina, “but your.. your husband has asked me to keep an eye on you. I don’t think it is right but he’s my boss so I can’t really say no but I wanted you to know.”

“I see,” Regina sighed, seemingly unsurprised by the fact.

“I won’t tell him anything,” Emma promised, “what you do is your business but he’s going to expect me to follow you around so I wanted to tell you myself that you will probably see me around a lot.”

“Why are you being nice to me?” Regina asked bluntly.

“Because I think that life is hard enough without people being shitty,” Emma admitted, “and I want you to know that you have a friend.”

“We’re friends?” Regina asked in surprise.

“I hope so,” Emma said sincerely.

They walked along the path in silence, each contemplating their newly announced and accepted friendship. Emma considering the fact that she’d previously had a similar conversation with her Regina but that this one seemed more successful than that one had been.

“May I ask why your husband wants me to watch you?” Emma asked softly, half-wondering if she wanted to know the answer.

Regina took a breath and nodded her head, “I.. I once tried to leave town. I took Henry and we ran away from here, well, we tried. I crashed the car up by the town line, I’m still not entirely sure what happened.”

Regina paused her walk and pulled her overcoat away from her right side and lifted her sweater from the bottom to show a nasty red scar on her side, “thank goodness Henry wasn’t injured,” Regina said as she lowered her sweater again, “but ever since that day Leopold has watched over me like a hawk, or had Sheriff Hopper do it.”

Emma nodded her understanding, “can I ask why you ran away?”

“For Henry,” Regina answered quickly, “my husband only has eyes for his first wife and his daughter. While I’m used to being invisible, I began to see it negatively affecting Henry and I had to protect him.”

“So, you tried to run,” Emma nodded her agreement.

“Yes,” Regina chuckled, “it was a poorly thought-out plan though. I didn’t know where I was going and I hardly had any money to support me when I got there, I just was consumed with this need to get away.”

“Things must have been bad,” Emma commented in a semi-question.

“Things have always been bad,” Regina shrugged, “after Eva died my parents set up a match between Leopold and myself. Being in politics means you need to have a full and happy family or rumours start swirling so he married again quickly but his heart was never mine. I never wanted to marry him either but I had little choice, I suppose I retreated into myself. I could never provide him with another child so Leopold adopted a baby, didn’t discuss it with me, just one day he came home with a baby.”

Emma looked shocked and Regina laughed, “that was my reaction too, I’d never had children before, I didn’t have any friends with babies and suddenly I was mother to one. In hindsight it was the only nice thing Leopold has ever done for me, Henry is my entire life.”

“He’s a great kid,” Emma told her with a smile.

“He is, but he is.. frustrated with things and that means he is acting out more and more,” Regina told her with a sad shake of the head, “you know, I shouldn’t complain. My life isn’t that bad, the worse that happens is that I am ignored. He doesn’t abuse me, he doesn’t even touch me except for the odd pat on the hand of hold of the shoulder. He doesn’t even kiss me on the lips, just a peck on the cheek. I know there are people who have it so much worse than I do,” Regina shivered at the thought.

“It doesn’t make it right, you know,” Emma told her firmly, “you deserve to be happy, clearly you’re afraid of him..”

“Yes,” Regina admitted after a while, “I am, he is a powerful man and could have anything he wanted.”

“Not you,” Emma said softly but sincerely, “he can’t have you unless you allow him.”

“That’s delightfully naïve,” Regina smiled at her and Emma was instantly reminded that this was a town filled with old fairy tale characters where women’s rights didn’t exist and her modern viewpoints were considered ridiculous.

“But.. he doesn’t hurt you?” Emma clarified, it suddenly very important to her.

“No, nor Henry,” Regina answered the unspoken question, “Leopold’s greatest crime to us is his oblivious nature,” at Emma’s continued look she added, “I promise you.”

“But, the bruises,” Emma indicated Regina’s covered wrists.

“I.. was attacking him, he defended himself,” Regina admitted, shame colouring her cheeks. 

“Oh,” Emma was surprised but pleased that Regina wasn’t as docile as she first seemed.

“Are you going to arrest me for attacking the Mayor?” Regina chuckled.

“Nah,” Emma shrugged disinterestedly.

“You seem biased in your duties, Deputy,” Regina laughed.

“I have a soft spot for the underdog,” Emma admitted.

“I’m not the underdog,” Regina told her firmly, a familiar fire in her eyes.

“So I’m finding out,” Emma grinned. The fact that Regina had attempted to leave and had attacked Leopold made Emma wondered how strong a hold the curse had over her and it gave her hope.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this. You could run straight back to my husband and tell him everything I told you, I presume that is what he wants you do to?”

“I suppose,” Emma shrugged, “but I won’t say anything to him, whatever you tell me is strictly between us. I promise.”

“I don’t know why I trust you,” Regina said with a sideways glance, “but I do.”

“Good,” Emma nodded, “after all I’m here to protect the rights and dignity of all Storybrooke citizens and strive to preserve the peace and provide a safe environment for all,” she repeated the motto she had read a couple of hours before.

“I wrote that,” Regina chuckled.

“Really?” Emma blinked in surprise.

“Yes, Leopold and Archie were fumbling around with a town motto for the Sheriff’s Department for the longest time so I wrote it and gave it to Archie, he showed it to Leopold and now you’re repeating it back to me,” Regina smiled in a way that reminded Emma of her Regina.

“I like it,” Emma nodded with a wide grin.

“You’re welcome,” Regina winked.

They had finished a circuit of the lake and found themselves back to the entrance to the park, “well, Deputy Swan,” Regina said with a practiced, diplomatic smile, “I’ll make things easy for you today. I’m going home now and then I’ll be picking Henry up from school, we’ll head to the fort for Henry to play and then home for a family dinner.”

Emma laughed, “thank you.”

“Well I don’t want to be responsible for using up all of the town Deputy’s time,” Regina smiled, “thank you, Deputy, for being honest with me.”

“Thank you for making me presentable,” Emma replied with a grin.


	8. Chapter 8

Once Emma had said goodbye to Regina she continued her exploration of the new Storybrooke, analysing everything that was different, no matter how small the difference may have been. It didn’t help that she had no idea what she was looking for but she knew that identification of her surroundings was going to be helpful no matter what the future held in store for her. 

There was a lightbulb moment where Emma suddenly remembered the convent and therefore the fairies. She never socialised with the fairies and they kept themselves to themselves and Emma was still coming to terms with things so they had completely slipped her mind.

Driving up to the convent, she introduced herself and had a conversation with several of them but before long it was very clear that none of them were going to be of any help, they were all completely under the curse. Exiting the convent with a bladder full of tea, a few dollars lighter and with a candle in each hand she despondently walked back to her Bug, Archie wanted her to undergo a test before he trusted her with the keys to the cruiser. 

Sitting down in the car she tossed the candles into the back and closed her eyes as she leant her head back against the headrest. She thought back to her first days in Storybrooke as she tried to piece together the dissolving of the curse that had happened in those first few days and weeks. It was difficult to truly get a grasp of where Henry’s overactive imagination finished and the real curse began back then. Sometimes Emma would be in Granny’s with Henry sharing a hot chocolate at the very moment that Regina would stroll in the door, Henry would immediately blame it on some fantasy CCTV network that the Evil Queen had installed throughout the town. Most of the time it was just lunchtime and Regina had simply entered the diner to pick up some food.

Emma then recalled the first time she became completely convinced of Regina’s love for Henry, the day that she was suddenly no longer in any doubt of Regina’s desire to move heaven and earth for the protection of her, no, their son. The day that Regina had stood so close to her that Emma could smell her fancy perfume and briefly wondered if Regina was actually going to kiss her. Or bite her. Something anyway, they were that close. Eyes flying open Emma quickly started the car and drove towards the mines, if the fairies weren’t going to be any help then maybe Emma would be able to find the fairy dust instead.

Thinking back to what people had told her about fairy dust she suddenly felt the first flashes of hope that she might be onto something that could help her predicament. If fairy dust was like fuel for magic then maybe finding it and releasing it would be a way to get her magic back, break the curse and then work on a way to correct her disruption on the timeline. No matter what Gold told her about her timeline being gone Emma wasn’t about to let go that easily, she wasn’t going to give up fighting for her original timeline.

She had to believe that mistakes could be undone, that somehow she could put things right and go back to the time where she had both her parents as well as a new baby brother, the world where Gold was banished to outside of the town line. Where Henry knew her as more than just a stranger who came to town one day and where her grandfather wasn’t in the picture at all. With a frown she realised that she would happily forsake him if it meant she could get back to her own timeline.

She would have dwelled on the unsavoury thought a while longer if she wasn’t distracted with wondering where the slip road for the mine was. Deciding she must have passed it she turned the Bug around and drove up the road again, this time paying more attention to where she was going but she still didn’t find the road. Turning the Bug again she crawled slowly up the road until she was where she thought the slip road should have been and came to a stop and got out of the car.

The wind blew and she pulled her hair out of her face and let out a curse when her black tie got caught in the gust and hit her in the face. Shoving her tie through the buttons of her shirt she headed into the woods and made her way towards where she thought the entrance to the mine was. After a while fighting with trees she came across the entrance to the mine and climbed down the rock face by the side of it. Some rocks and dust fell down and she skidded and fell a little as she got to the bottom of dip and turned to look at the entrance but instead of seeing an open mine shaft like she was expecting she saw a wall of concrete blocking the entrance.

Getting closer she had a proper look and could see that the mine had been deliberately filled in, she wondered if Leopold had more of a safety issue with an open abandoned mine than Regina did or if there was another reason for the closed mine. It would be impossible for her to gain entry so she sat on a rock with a sigh and stared at the concrete with a glare and wished for her magic so she could blow the thing down. 

After a few minutes she let out a long sigh, she wasn’t getting into the mine. She stood up and clambered out of the dip and back through the woods towards the car and started to drive back towards town. Her mind was desperately trying to come up with another plan, she knew that magic had got her into this mess and magic would be the only way out again.

Distracted from her thoughts by a familiar figure she sighed and pulled the Bug over and got out of the car and called out, “Henry!”

Henry turned and looked at her, he was in his school uniform and had his backpack on his back and looked at her knowing that he was busted, “hi, Deputy Swan, I’m.. just heading home, free period.”

Emma put her hands on her hips, “firstly, it’s Emma, secondly your home isn’t in that direction and lastly you don’t have free periods because you’re ten.”

“How do you know I’m ten?” Henry asked her with a pout.

“I’m Deputy, I know everything,” Emma replied quickly and pointed at the passenger side of her car, “get in, I’m taking you back to school.”

Henry sighed and dragged his feet towards the car, as he opened the door he nodded, “cool colour.”

“Thanks,” Emma said as they both got in the Bug and slammed the doors, “want to tell me why you’re out here instead of in school?”

Henry shrugged and sat silently in the car, staring out of the windscreen and doing his best to ignore Emma.

“Okay, well, you can discuss it with your teacher when you get back,” Emma said with a shrug.

“I gave them a note,” Henry said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked, softening her tone.

“I.. I forged a note from my mom saying I had permission to go home,” Henry admitted, a little red appearing on his cheeks as he admitted his crime.

“Why did you do that?” Emma asked carefully.

“Because it’s the same thing, every Wednesday afternoon, we have the same play time and we build bird boxes. I know you don’t believe me but I’ve built, like, over one hundred and ninety bird boxes at school and every week we do it again like it’s the first time and..” Henry pushed his fists into his eyes in frustration.

Emma put her hand in his shoulder, careful not to push too far as she was still technically a stranger to him even though she desperately wanted to offer him a comforting hug. 

“I get it, Kid, really I do,” Emma said softly.

“If you take me back to school they’ll know I forged the note and then my mom will get in trouble,” Henry said as he turned to look at Emma with red, watery eyes.

Emma took a deep breath and stared dead ahead up the street as she considered her options, after a while she let out a sigh, “okay, listen, I am going to take you home to your mom but you absolutely cannot tell anyone that I did that, okay? It’s gotta be a secret between you, me and your mom, okay?”

Henry slowly nodded and seemingly grasped the seriousness of the situation.

“But you can’t do this anymore, I know the bird box thing sucks but you have to stay undercover, you know? Operation cobra,” Emma implored him.

“You think making bird boxes will help operation cobra?” Henry asked her with a frown.

“I think not rocking the boat will help me to investigate what’s happening here,” Emma said honestly, “if I have to go all over town worried about where you are that takes my time away from dealing with operation cobra stuff.”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Henry told her lightly.

“I do, Henry, it’s my job,” Emma told him with an exasperated sigh.

“So,” Henry frowned, “you believe me? About Storybrooke, I mean?”

Emma looked at him seriously, “I definitely think it needs further investigation,” she told him.

Henry smiled a wide, genuine grin and Emma breathed a sigh of relief that the distance between them could be conquered, in that moment she saw Henry, her Henry, the boy she loved looking back at her if only for a few seconds.

“Let’s get you home in case your mom is worrying about you,” Emma said as she started the car.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It wasn’t until Regina opened the front door to 108 Mifflin Street that Emma realised what a mess she must have looked as Regina barely looked at Henry and stared at the Deputy in shock.

“What happened?” Regina asked in a tone just a couple of steps away from panic.

Emma frowned and looked down at her uniform which was now covered in green marks from the trees, dust from the entrance to the mines and even ripped in a couple of places. Her tie was still haphazardly tucked into her shirt buttons halfway down her chest and her hair was windswept. 

“Oh, nothing,” Emma said casually as she patted her hair in a pointless attempt to make things look a little better.

Regina’s shocked expression travelled to Henry to search the boy for any sign of injury.

“Oh,” Emma realised Regina’s panic, “Henry is fine, this is something else,” she gestured to the state of her uniform.

Henry nodded to his mother, “she was like that when I saw her,” he confirmed, clearly wanting to separate himself from the disaster that was Deputy Swan’s appearance.

“Come in, both of you,” Regina demanded, “Henry, why aren’t you in school?”

She closed the door behind them and folded her arms as she looked at Henry and demanded an answer.

“It’s Wednesday,” Henry mumbled quietly.

“Oh, Henry,” Regina said, her face instantly softening as she walked towards him and pulled him into an embrace, “darling, you can’t run away like that.”

Henry wrapped his arms tightly around Regina’s middle and Regina looked up at Emma with an apologetic look, “where did you find him?”

“Walking up by the Jensen’s fields,” Emma replied.

Regina closed her eyes briefly and swallowed as if attempting to calm herself slightly before she said, “Henry, you have to promise me not to do this anymore.”

Henry pulled back and nodded grimly, “I promise, Mom, I’m sorry.”

“Do you have homework?” Regina asked as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Yeah,” Henry mumbled looking at the floor.

“Then please go to your room and get started and we’re not going to the fort today now as punishment,” Regina told him firmly.

Henry clearly wanted to argue but obviously knew better and simply nodded his head in understanding as he stared at the floor glumly. Regina took a step forward and kissed his head and gave him a quick squeeze before putting a hand on his back and gesturing him towards the stairs. 

“Bye Deputy Swan, sorry,” Henry mumbled as he walked away.

“I told you, it’s Emma,” the blonde replied kindly, “see you around, Kid.”

As soon as he was gone Regina spun around and looked at Emma with a shake of the head, “what on earth happened to you?”

“Just, you know, stuff,” Emma said as she lifted her arms away from her body and looked down at herself with a shrug.

“Stuff?” Regina repeated, “well, it looks like stuff won. You’re a mess, when I left you this morning your uniform was spotless and now you look like you’ve been wrestling in the dirt!”

Emma smiled, “uniforms get messy, that’s what they’re for.”

“In a matter of hours?” Regina raised an eyebrow, “you’ll be going through uniforms like the rest of us have hot dinners. Or is that your plan? Destroy your uniform so you don’t have to wear one?”

Emma laughed lightly, “you know, that wasn’t my plan but I’m now wondering if you’re onto something.”

Regina smiled and glanced up towards the ceiling, “thank you for bringing him home.”

“No problem,” Emma smiled.

“No, I mean, thank you for not taking him back to school,” Regina emphasised.

“I thought he’d be better off back here,” Emma confessed, “and we don’t need to involve everyone else.”

A comfortable silence fell between them while Regina looked at Emma like she was trying to figure out all of the blonde’s secrets with a single look. But Emma knew she shouldn’t hang around for too long, “I should probably go, don’t want your husband to see me hanging around. I’m supposed to be watching you not hanging out,” she joked.

Regina nodded, “true, I’m sorry, I didn’t consider that.”

“It’s fine,” Emma smiled, “me and my messy uniform better get going anyway.”

“I look forward to seeing you in a better state tomorrow,” Regina joked as she opened the door for Emma to leave.

“Archie said if I was a good girl today I might be allowed my sidearm tomorrow,” Emma said as she stepped through the doorway.

“Oh, well, little chance of that then,” Regina quipped with a small smile, “if you can’t even keep your shirt in one piece.”

“Hey, it’s in one piece,” Emma argued as she looked down at herself to figure out what Regina was referring to.

Regina rolled her eyes in a way that briefly blindsided Emma as it was so like her Regina, the brunette grabbed Emma’s forearm and gently pulled her arm and indicated to a rip on the upper arm sleeve, “exhibit a.”

“Oh,” Emma said as she pulled her arm around and looked at the rip.

As she did Regina got a better look at it and stepped forward and held her arm in place, “you’re bleeding,” she said with concern.

“Yeah,” Emma muttered, “damn, I will need a new shirt.”

“You should come in, I can take care of that and make sure the wound is clean,” Regina said, still holding Emma’s arm in place.

Emma wanted nothing more than to go with Regina and let her help but she knew that it was too risky, she was being tested by Leopold and the last thing she wanted to do was fail that test so early on.

“It’s fine,” Emma said lightly, “I’ll deal with it when I get back to the station.”

Regina reluctantly let her arm go, “you promise you’ll clean that wound?”

“Absolutely,” Emma nodded but Regina just looked at her disbelieving, “I will, I promise!”

Regina gave a small smile, “you don’t seem like someone who breaks promises.”

“I’m not,” Emma acknowledged, “anyway, I better.. erm, I’ll... I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”

“No doubt,” Regina inclined her head, “goodnight, Deputy.”


	9. Chapter 9

Emma ignored Archie’s shocked and then critical look at her uniform as she entered the station to sign off for the day. With a wordless shaking of the head he opened his desk drawer and removed a key and handed it to her.

At her frown he elaborated, “for the stock room cupboard where the spare uniforms are kept, clearly you’ll be needing it more than I do.”

“Thanks, boss,” Emma grinned.

“How was your first day?” Archie asked casually.

“Good,” Emma said, “no crime to report. Introduced myself around town, chased a dog by an old mine hence the uniform.”

Archie’s head snapped up, “what kind of dog?”

“A yellow lab,” Emma said, immediately recognising Archie’s hopeful look and realising that his beloved Dalmatian Pongo was clearly also in this timeline but clearly not with his owner.

“Oh,” he answered with a sigh and a distant look.

“Is there a lost dog that you’re looking for?” Emma asked carefully.

“Yes, well, no, I suppose not,” he answered with a shake of the head, “I used to have a dog but he went missing many years ago. I fool myself into thinking I’ll see him again but he has probably passed by now. I can’t even remember how long it is since I last saw him.”

“You never know,” Emma said brightly, “he might just turn up. Dogs are pretty impressive like that.”

Archie smiled and nodded his agreement, “yes, they are,” he shook his head again at Emma’s uniform, “anyway, good evening Deputy, thank you for your help today and I’ll see you the same time tomorrow.”

Emma picked up a new uniform from the store cupboard on her way out of the station and said goodbye to Archie. Half an hour later she had changed into her own clothes and was sat in a booth at the back of Granny’s examining the storybook that Mary Margaret had allowed her to borrow.

“Good evening, Deputy,” Ruby politely greeted as she stood by the end of the booth.

“Hey,” Emma said, biting her tongue to prevent herself from calling the woman Rubes like she would have done in her own timeline.

“So, you’re staying in town then?” Ruby asked curiously.

“Yep,” Emma nodded, “for the foreseeable future anyway.”

“Great, it’s nice to have some new faces around here,” Ruby smiled happily.

They talked for a while longer about Emma’s new job but her desire to continue lodging at the bed and breakfast a while longer until she got a feel for the town. She ordered dinner and Ruby left to go and serve some other customers and Emma continued looking at the book.

The book was as packed with stories as the original book she knew and she found herself skimming over a few of the tales in favour of finding ones that contained people she knew. Turning the page away from a story about her father and mother encountering an ogre by a lake she raised an eyebrow at an illustration of Cora.

She had yet to see Cora in town and no one had mentioned the woman so she assumed that she wasn’t in this current version of Storybrooke and read the story with interest, learning about how the Miller’s daughter, Cora, was pushed through a magical mirror into another realm by Rumpelstiltskin. Emma wondered what kind of relationship Regina and Cora had in this new timeline and if Rumpelstiltskin’s ability to cast the curse had effected his interactions with Cora like it had Regina. She assumed that Cora’s banishment to another realm meant that Cora wasn’t in Storybrooke. For whatever reason Rumpelstiltskin wanted the woman out of his way so it didn’t seem likely that he would curse her and bring her to Storybrooke.

Emma flipped through a few pages and stories about people she didn’t know or stories that seemed to have not changed like the boring tale of how Dreamy became Grumpy. She rolled her eyes, she liked Leroy but she had to admit that his backstory was the most tedious of them all. Turning the page again she saw an illustration of an elderly man dying on the ground and her father standing over him, seemingly defending him with his sword in the air. She read the story and realised that the man on the ground was Regina’s father, Henry. The tale told of a great battle between the Dark One and the kingdom and how the Dark One claimed the life of the Queen’s father who had gone into battle to protect the kingdom despite his advancing years. 

“Deputy,” Emma was shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of Leopold greeting her. She looked up at him and he smiled as he gestured to the bench opposite her, “do you mind if I join you for a moment?”

“Of course,” she said politely as she closed the book and pushed it to one side.

Leopold regarded the book with a smile, “you’re like my daughter, she had her nose in that book for months.”

“It is very interesting,” Emma admitted but didn’t say much more, she wasn’t in much of a mood for this conversation and she knew he was just there to check in on her.

“Good, good,” he said, seemingly at a loss of what other small talk to make, “I assume that everything went well today?”

Emma had to admit she respected his directness when he realised she wasn’t in the mood to chitchat with him, “it went well, nothing out of the ordinary to report, Sir.”

“Oh, you don’t need to call me Sir,” he smiled and waved his hand distractedly, “but thank you, for keeping an eye on my wife.”

“If I may suggest something?” Emma asked carefully.

“Of course,” he nodded at her.

“Regina is an intelligent woman, it’s only going to be a matter of time before she notices me watching her from a distance. Maybe it would be better if I befriended her instead and spent time with her as a friend?” Emma suggested. 

Leopold considered this for a moment with a smile, “would you be happy to do that?”

“I’d prefer it, to be honest, Sir,” Emma admitted, “I like Regina, I don’t mind keeping an eye on her but I’d rather be a little more transparent and do it as a friend.”

“I agree,” Leopold said, “that would be better for everyone and I know my Regina needs a friend, someone she can talk to.”

Emma nodded, “don’t we all?”

Leopold nodded his understanding and acceptance of this new plan, “well, thank you Deputy. I’ll leave you to your meal, I have some business to attend to.”

Emma looked at her watch with a small frown, “a bit late in the day for work?”

Leopold shuffled out of the booth and stood up, “normally, yes, however after many years not working the town clock seems to have miraculously sprung to life so I wanted to have a look before I headed home.”

Emma couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at the news that the clock was working again.

~*~*~*~*~

Emma felt a little brighter when she woke up the next morning, the knowledge that the curse was weakening and that the town clock had started to move again put a spring in her step as she walked out of the Sheriff’s office to start her day. 

Before long she was walking into Gold’s shop with the intention of boasting about the success of the clock. As she walked into the darkened shop filled with curiosities she saw the man in question looking at her with boredom and some disdain.

“Deputy, don’t you have babysitting duties to attend to?” Gold asked with a sneer.

“I’m not twenty-four hour protection,” Emma replied with a roll of her eyes, “and I’m not going to be here long, just telling you that the clock started moving yesterday.”

“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Gold asked with a shrug.

“Well, it’s a start,” Emma pointed out with a huff.

“A very small start,” Gold told her pointedly.

“Well, it’s going to take time,” Emma shrugged.

“I’m not a patient man, Miss Swan,” Gold looked up at her darkly, “and you’ll do well to remember that there’s a clause that means your death would break the curse.”

“Then why haven’t you killed me yet if you’re so desperate to break the curse?” Emma questioned with annoyance.

Gold looked at her as if considering it for a moment to mess with her before sighing, “because I predict that when this curse is broken there will be some animosity towards me. I may need my own twenty-four hour protection.”

“And you really think I’m going to protect you?” Emma snorted a laugh.

“You will if you want Henry to remain unharmed,” Gold told her in a serious tone.

“Threatening my kid, nice,” Emma shook her head in disgust at the man, “didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can catch more flies with honey?”

“Actually, yes,” Gold said as he looked wistful before his eyes narrowed again, “I killed her.”

“You really are a monster,” Emma told him sincerely.

“So I’ve been told,” Gold allowed with a small smile, “focus your efforts on breaking the curse, you can spend your time hating me later.”

“You know, you don’t seem real clear on how I’m supposed to break the curse,” Emma frowned, “almost as if you don’t know. Which I find difficult to believe considering you supposedly have the ability to see the future, unless you really don’t know because you never saw this timeline.”

“I really don’t have time for your questions, Deputy, you know little about magic, time travel or the ability to see into the future and I don’t have time to listen to your pointless ramblings,” Gold said as he leaned on the counter and regarded her seriously.

Emma smiled and turned on her heel, left the shop and got into her Bug and drove away, no real destination in mind but pleased with herself that she had managed to rattle the older man. Her mind was spinning with questions and realisations, Gold wasn’t as cocky as he usually was and that indicated to Emma that he didn’t have full control. She’d heard it be said that Gold had inherited the gift of omnipotent foresight and that was how he had managed to manipulate so many people into doing exactly what he wanted so he could get his own way.

Now the man seemed confused and like he didn’t have all the answers, this either meant that he hadn’t gotten that gift or he hadn’t seen this timeline. Emma couldn’t believe that he would have been able to get as far as he had with his plan without the sight which meant he didn’t have knowledge of this timeline. She had no idea how time worked, especially when someone barges in and messes it up but she was now wondering if Gold couldn’t see the future because this timeline wasn’t meant to happen, because she created it by mistake. 

Emma decided to continue her search for magic in this new Storybrooke and headed towards the cemetery to see if there was a crypt similar to the one she knew of. Parking at the entrance to the cemetery she was surprised to see Regina walking nearby.

As she got out of the car Regina smiled over to her and called out, “it’s almost as if you are following me!”

Emma laughed lightly, “I’m actually not, just getting to know the town.”

By now Regina had closed the distance between them and Emma noted that she was wearing black dress trousers with a white blouse and a more casual black cardigan than Emma was used to seeing the brunette wear. Looking down Emma noticed that Regina held two small bunches of flowers in her hand.

“A new uniform today I see,” Regina commented with a smile.

“Yes, I’ve been informed that the other was unsalvageable,” Emma laughed lightly.

“Hold these,” Regina pushed the flowers into Emma’s hands and set about correcting her black tie again.

“Looks like I’ll have to teach you how to do this,” Regina said as she straightened both loose ends of the tie and started to fold one piece over the other.

“Maybe I prefer you doing it,” Emma whispered quietly, not knowing where the thought came from and definitely not understanding why she verbalised it.

Regina’s eyes briefly lifted and she regarded Emma with surprise for a few moments before quickly returning to the tie and finishing up the knot and gently tightening it around Emma’s neck and smoothing it down.

“Good,” Regina breathed softly as she took a small step back and held her hands out for Emma to hand over both bunches of flowers.

Emma wordlessly handed the flowers back to the brunette in a little shock that she had openly flirted with the brunette and, more surprisingly, the brunette had replied positively. 

Regina adorably bit her lip and smiled, “well Deputy, I’ll let you get back to your exploration of our town.”

Emma quite forgot that she was intending to check out the cemetery for the crypt and nodded to Regina, “hopefully I’ll see you around.”

“Hopefully you will,” Regina nodded, her eyes shining brightly as she looked Emma up and down one last time and walked towards the cemetery.

Emma found herself watching the brunette walk away for a few moments before she shook her head and quickly got back into the Bug and too a few deep breaths. She didn’t know what was happening between her and Regina but she did know that things were becoming more complicated.


	10. Chapter 10

Emma drove away from the cemetery in a bit of a daze as she attempted to pull her thoughts together. It was an extremely stressful time for the blonde, she was in a new timeline, caused by her own meddling, she was alone and had lost everyone she held dear, she was in stuck in a power play between the Mayor and Gold. And for some reason she was semi-flirting with Regina Mills. 

Emma slammed her hand down onto the steering wheel in frustration at the thought, the last thing she wanted to do was to frighten Regina and end up pushing her away. Her only key to breaking the curse at the moment was Henry and to get close to Henry she had to get close to Regina, not frighten her off with some childish attempt at flirting. She didn’t even understand why she was flirting with Regina, she’d never thought about it before and suddenly she’s watching the brunette who was kindly helping her with her ridiculous uniform and wondering what those nimble fingers would feel like under the shirt. 

She wondered if Regina was flirting back, Emma had never been an expert at reading signs and she had positively no gaydar whatsoever. In the past she had gotten herself good and drunk before making an approach to a woman and had around a thirty percent success rate. This had the unfortunate side effect that every single time Emma had been with a woman, she’d been blind drunk. Which hadn’t exactly helped her to develop a pattern of understanding of what to look for in women who were attracted to women. 

She slammed her palm down on the wheel of the Bug again, it was irrelevant whether Regina was receptive to her flirting because she shouldn’t have flirted with her in the first place. Emma had to focus on fixing the timeline, not wondering what Regina’s plump red lips would feel like pressed against the pulse on her neck. She shook her head, thinking of that wasn’t helping, and Regina was married, to her grandfather and mother to her mother. That helped as Emma made a brief face of disgust at that thought. But it wasn’t long until she found herself distracted again and casually wondering what it would feel like to run her tongue over Regina’s scar on her lip.

Emma chuckled at her own behaviour, leaving the cemetery before she had even had a chance to look around for the crypt. Regina obviously would have noticed that Emma pulled up and then left again immediately, she wondered what Regina made of her behaviour before quickly shaking her head and trying to recollect her thoughts.

Aside from the cemetery, there was only one other place that seemed to be a hub for magic and that was the well in the middle of the forest where August had first taken her, latterly the well where Regina had rescued her and Mary Margaret from. 

Emma parked up her Bug and pulled on her thick Sheriff’s coat to start making her way into the forest to search for the well, hoping it would be easier to find than the mine entrance had been. She walked for fifteen minutes, noting happily that the trees all looked the same as the ones from her Storybrooke and she felt positive that at least this part of the new timeline had been changed very little.

Coming out in the clearing she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the old water well looking identical to how she remembered. She quickly approached the well only to be thrown backwards as she got close, she scrambled back to her feet and shook her head as she looked around to see what had happened. She crept closer to the well and noted the markings on the ground that indicated where she had been standing when she had been thrown backwards, tentatively she reached her hand forward. A flash of electrical energy appeared in a white light and she quickly retracted her hand with a smile, it was some kind of magical protection barrier that surrounded the well like an invisible dome.

“Yes!” Emma jumped back happily, unable to contain her excitement that she had managed to find some source of magic.

After a few seconds her face fell as she realised she had no idea what to do with this new information, looking around the clearing she couldn’t see anything that would help her and she regarded the well again with a frown. A protection barrier worked two ways, it kept things out and it kept things in. Emma wondered if the protection barrier was there in order to keep people away from the well and its power or if it was there to keep something away from Storybrooke.

She stood on her tip toes and tried to look towards the well but it was pointless so she scrunched up her face and considered her options. She shook her hands out and jumped around on the spot for a moment and hoped that what she had heard about magic being inside her was true. With a final flick on her hands she took a deep breath and raised her hands towards the protection barrier and stepped forward.

The energy fizzed to life and quickly found her hands and she closed her eyes as she concentrated and tried to activate her magic. She cracked one eye open enough to see that it was working and that she was counteracting the barrier, she forced herself to concentrate harder. She dug deep within herself and thought of positive thoughts to bring out as much of her light magic as she could and suddenly a bright flash of white light blinded her even through closed eyes. 

She tentatively opened her eyes and cautiously looked around, the field seemed to have dissipated. She was alive and nothing terrible like a wraith seemed to have been released and she sighed in relief, wondering if she should have considered the wraith possibility earlier.

“Hello?” 

Emma frowned, a quiet female voice echoed from the bottom of the well and she surged forward and looked down, “hello?”

“Oh, at last,” the female voice sounded relieved, “please, help me out of this well, I came for fresh water and I fell.”

“Cut the crap, I’m not affected by the curse,” Emma called over the edge and into the darkness, “who are you?”

The voice sighed, “very well, I’ll tell you who I am if you help me out of here.”

“I’m not that curious, lady,” Emma snorted a laugh.

“Who are you? You don’t sound like you are from my realm,” the voice asked.

Emma paused, she didn’t want to say anything. Her newly discovered terror of timeline mishaps caused her to wonder if the well might end up in another time, or another realm, giving her yet another opportunity to potentially kill herself and everyone she knew.

“We’re at a stalemate,” the voice laughed from deep inside the well, “seems neither or us trusts the other, however, as I’m not exactly relishing the possibility of spending eternity down here, so let me start.”

“Okay,” Emma called down, eyeing up the bucket and the rope in front of her and figuring a way to bring the woman up if she chose to.

“My name is Cora Mills,” the voice said and Emma took an involuntary step back from the well in shock and fear. Realising that she was safe and that the woman would have reacted by now if she had access to magic she crept forward again.

“Do you know me, child?”

“I do,” Emma said simply.

“I have spent a long time searching for Rumpelstiltskin so I can have my revenge, I have travelled to many worlds with the help of a man called Jefferson,” Cora explained, “I didn’t know the little rat was working for the Dark One and between them they trapped me between realms.”

“In a well?” Emma questioned.

“Not exactly,” Cora replied with a sigh, “when I was crossing to this world I could sense the Dark One casting a spell so I attempted to return to my own world. And now I am trapped between the two, my physical body there and my dream state here.”

“So when you sleep you come here?” Emma asked.

“Exactly,” Cora called up, “but I have forever been stuck in this darkness but now you are here so something must have changed.”

“Do you have magic?” Emma asked.

“Not in this realm,” Cora replied, “the magic is.. different here.”

Emma almost laughed at the phrasing as her mind thought of her own Regina’s difficulty with coping with the different magic in those first few weeks and months.

“I’m going to help you up and then you are going to help me,” Emma announced as she began to lower the bucket and the rope, pleased to see the rope was thick, sturdy and not damaged.

She saw the rope jolt as Cora climbed a foot into the wooden bucket and held on tightly to the rope and started to wind the rope back up again. It took a while and Emma was panting for breath by the end of it but soon she saw Cora’s hand grab onto the side of the well and she pulled herself out. 

Cora regarded an out of breath Emma cautiously before nodding, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Emma nodded equally carefully and regarding the woman with suspicion.

Cora smiled at Emma’s reaction to her, “you do know me,” she commented wryly. She turned and looked at the forest and took a few steps away from the well but as soon as she had she paused with a frown and looked at her hands. They were beginning to take on a translucent effect and she took a quick step back, “it appears I am tethered to this well,” she sat down on the stone step up to the well with a sigh, “from one prison to another.”

“I’m sorry,” Emma commented lightly and sat down on the step as well but a short distance away from Cora to be sure.

“So, tell me your story,” Cora told her with a small smile, “I have a feeling it’s a good tale.”

“My name is Emma, do you know me?” Emma asked hesitantly.

Cora shook her head, “no, child, I’ve never seen you before.”

Emma nodded, “I..” she put her head in her hands and sighed, “this is messed up.”

“I have practiced magic for a number of years, I’m sure I’ve heard it all before,” Cora grinned.

“I’m in the wrong timeline,” Emma said with a sideways look at Cora, “this place, it’s a town called Storybrooke. Rumpelstiltskin cast a curse in your land and brought people to this town. They don’t remember who they are, they have been given a cursed identity and time here stands still.”

“I see, the great curse,” Cora nodded as if she had heard of the theory.

“I’m from a different Storybrooke,” Emma continued, “one where the curse was broken, by myself, one where people have learnt to get along. I had a family, people who loved me but one day there was this white light and I was suddenly in the past, in your realm, and I had a conversation with a woman. It changed everything, the next thing I was in my own past, before I got to Storybrooke.”

“And when you arrived back here,” Cora guessed, “everything was different, your conversation in the past had massive, unforeseen ripple effects?”

“Yes, exactly,” Emma nodded, “and now Rumpelstiltskin wants me to break the curse again but nothing is the same so I don’t know how to do that. I want to go back to my own timeline but he says it’s impossible.”

“You remember your original timeline?” Cora questioned.

“Yes, so does he,” Emma answered.

Cora laughed, “that devious little imp.”

“What do you mean?” Emma demanded.

Cora looked at Emma and paused for a moment as she pondered how to explain, “time is a funny thing but there is only one you and there is only one timeline. There have been theories about any different timelines, all slightly different. For every other decision you make a new timeline is produced in that mirror image with the other decision, that’s not true. There is one.”

“So, this is it?” Emma asked, wishing she was wrong.

“If you’re living in it, then this is it, you can’t get back to your timeline, you’re in it,” Cora told her.

Emma’s face fell as she considered the impossibility of it all.

“Don’t fret,” Cora smiled, “don’t you see what this means?”

“That I’m screwed?” Emma asked.

“He remembers your timeline, so do you,” Cora pushed, “if you had rewritten time then no one should know about it. Things should be reset. But you are displaced, you are out of your timeline, this isn’t correct and time knows it.”

“I’m getting a headache,” Emma commented dryly, “but are you saying that my timeline.. is the right one?”

“Yes,” Cora nodded, “this is clearly all wrong, especially if he knows it too.”

“He does,” Emma confirmed, “and he doesn’t seem to know how I should break the curse.”

“Then he is as lost in this timeline as you are,” Cora laughed, “he has had sight of the future, he should know these things. The fact he doesn’t means that this is not the correct timeline.”

“Great,” Emma breathed, “how do I fix it?”

“Tell me of your timeline,” Cora asked with a gentle tone that made Emma’s spine shiver. She knew Cora wanted revenge on Rumpelstiltskin and that was still her top priority. No one would suffer being stuck down a well in their dream state for untold amounts of time and not want to punish the person responsible.

“He’s dead,” Emma told her, “the curse was broken and he was ejected from the town to a land without magic and then he was killed.”

A smile grew across Cora’s features and Emma continued, “in my timeline your daughter is safe and happy, she rules the town and she is respected. Here she is the wife of the man in charge and is treated with disdain and is considered frail.”

That did it. Cora rose to her feet in anger, “this abomination cannot stand, my Regina was born to rule!”

“I agree,” Emma admitted, “I didn’t like Regina when I first arrived in my Storybrooke but as I got to know her I respected her and.. I hate to admit it but she is the best leader I know. I miss her, I see the Regina here and.. I like her but she’s lost that spark.”

“You’re friends with my daughter?” Cora questioned.

“Sort of,” Emma nodded, “our paths cross a lot.”

“So,” Cora grinned as she wrapped her mind around the enigma, “in this.. original timeline of yours my Regina rules and Rumpel is dead?”

“Yes,” Emma hoped Cora couldn’t detect her lie.

“And myself?” Cora questioned.

“You support Regina,” Emma quickly lied, “you provide her with guidance and the people couldn’t do without you.”

Cora nodded with pride, “then we must rectify the timeline, it seems our goals are aligned, Miss..?”

“Swan, Emma Swan,” Emma stood up and held out her hand.

Cora shook her hand and smiled, “Miss Swan, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Emma smiled, wondering if it was time to begin to believe that another scenario might just be possible, if she might just be able to fix everything.


	11. Chapter 11

Emma drove back into Storybrooke with a renewed sense of hope and anticipation. She’d discovered magic, found out that Gold was lying about her timeline being permanently gone and had managed to find a powerful new ally who would be able to help her. 

She visibly winced at the last one, Cora was not an ideal ally by any stretch of the imagination. She was deceitful, vindictive and out for Rumpelstiltskin’s blood and Emma knew that the older woman would easily cross anyone who got in her way. The second Emma found out that it was Cora who was trapped down the well she decided to proceed with extreme caution and to not trust her one bit. Lying about Rumpelstiltskin’s demise and Cora’s presence in her own timeline was a risky strategy but one that Emma was more than ready to take if it meant getting home. She soothed her conscience in the knowledge that Cora would, and probably was about to, double-cross Emma at any given moment.

Despite Emma’s attempts to remain calm and to not expect too much to come from these new advances in her situation she found herself walking the short distance to Granny’s diner in a lighter mood. She was mentally planning the welcome home dinner that she wanted to enjoy with her family, which consisted of her parents, Regina and Henry. She wasn’t quite sure when Regina had become one of her family rather than just Henry’s other mother but it went without saying in Emma’s mind that Regina was invited to any family gathering. 

Suddenly this new, different Storybrooke didn’t seem quite so scary, the objective of getting home didn’t seem quite as insurmountable as it had done just a few hours ago. Cora was certainly a very powerful ally to have, her knowledge probably outstripped Regina’s and Rumpelstiltskin must have been concerned about her powers if he banished her to another realm. Surely he would have just killed her if he could.

Emma walked into Granny’s and smiled as she saw Regina and Henry having a meal in one of the booths, looking at her watch she realised in surprise that it was quite late on in the afternoon.

Walking over to the booth she smiled at the mother and son, “hello,” she grinned as she watched Henry balancing an overloaded long-stemmed spoon of ice cream, fudge and whipped cream towards his mouth.

“Deputy Swan,” Regina smiled back, looking at Emma’s uniform with a raised eyebrow, “I see you’re still struggling to get the hang of keeping your uniform in one piece.”

Emma was about to argue when she glanced down to see her shirt and trousers dirtied up from the adventure in the forest and sitting by the dusty old water well, “er, well,” Emma stuttered.

“I got an A on my test,” Henry said, finally having swallowed his mouthful of ice cream, “Mom said I could have a treat if I got any better than a C!”

“Wow,” Emma smiled, “you really nailed it then didn’t you, Kid?”

“Please, join us,” Regina gestured towards the empty bench opposite them.

“Are you sure I won’t be intruding?” Emma asked sincerely, she had become more aware of her knack of disturbing Henry and Regina’s time back in her own timeline and was trying to be better. Her Regina got to see precious little of her son since the curse had broken and she had been extremely magnanimous about it but Emma had begun to notice Regina’s mounting disappointment. Regina was hardly one to wear her heart on her sleeve but Emma had picked up on the odd clenched jaw or sad-eyed nod when their mother and son time was cut short or interrupted.

“Absolutely, we’d like Deputy Swan to join us wouldn’t we, Henry?” Regina asked the boy who could only nod because he had taken another large mouthful of ice cream.

Emma didn’t need to be told twice and sat in the booth with a heavy sigh, heaving Cora up and out of the well had been hard work and she needed to stretch out her shoulder muscles to prevent knots from forming. A waitress came to take her order and Emma studied the menu intently for a few moments before eventually requesting a chicken salad, the only thing that she could stomach that she thought Regina would be impressed with.

A quick glance at Regina, who was attempting to look like she hadn’t noticed the interaction and was just interested in the newspaper she had open on the table, told Emma that she was right and Regina was indeed impressed with Emma’s choice. Emma tried to not dwell too much on why Regina’s acceptance was important to her, or why she was staring at slim fingers that gently held the newspaper pages. 

“It was an algebra test,” Henry told her, thankfully pulling her away from her thoughts that seemed to be causing an increase in heartrate for the blonde.

“An A in algebra?” Emma asked with interest and at Henry’s confirming nod she smiled, “that is pretty amazing, Henry, well done.”

“I hate math,” Henry told her with a scrunched up nose.

“I know,” Emma chuckled and at Henry’s frown immediately realised her slipup, “I mean, who doesn’t hate math?” 

Henry smiled and Regina rolled her eyes and Emma breathed a sigh of relief that her slipup was so minor, she mentally reminded herself to be more careful and not to let the new positive light on her situation allow her to make any rookie mistakes. She’d done this before many times, play a role, develop a character and stick to it. Of course it was harder when one of those people just happened to be your son, who didn’t know he was your son. And the other person involved, well, complicated didn’t begin to describe it. 

Regina was regarding Emma with an interested expression, as if trying to figure out the blonde. Or perhaps figure out her own feelings for the blonde in much the same was that Emma was trying to figure out her own feelings for Regina. 

“But of course math is very important,” Regina said with a meaningful glare towards Emma.

“Absolutely,” Emma agreed, looking at Henry, “I use math every day.”

“What about algebra?” Henry asked with a roll of his eyes that mirrored his mother’s to the letter.

“Every day,” Emma nodded her confirmation.

Henry nodded at this information and continued his ice cream eating without another word. Emma glanced at Regina who was smiling warmly at her.

“I didn’t think you were a chicken salad sort of woman, Deputy,” Regina said with a smile.

“Please, call me Emma,” Emma said with a sigh, “she’d spent many months convincing her Regina to depart from calling her Miss Swan and now she felt like she was repeating herself, “and..” she laughed, “no.. I’m not a chicken salad person, I suppose you’re having a good effect on me.”

Regina looked at her with a darkened expression as her tongue darted out to wet her lips, “shame,” she mumbled.

All kinds of alarm bells began to ring in Emma’s head, surely Regina wasn’t flirting with her, surely she was misunderstanding this interaction.

“Did you peg me for more of a desserts and whipped cream on everything kinda girl?” Emma asked, innuendo floating softly around the sentence.

She watched as Regina swallowed and regarded her with wide eyes, “something like that,” the brunette admitted.

Emma glanced at Henry who was happily scraping the last of his ice cream out of the bottom of his glass and then looked at Regina again with an inquisitive look.

“Henry, we should go,” Regina announced suddenly, “I didn’t realise how late it was.”

“Okay, can I use the bathroom first?” Henry asked as he dropped his spoon into the empty glass.

“Yes, be quick though,” Regina told him and watched him leave before anxiously looking towards Emma again, “I’m sorry, I.. we have to get going.”

“Regina..” Emma started, “I.. we’re, we’re flirting, right? I’m not making this up am I?”

Regina’s cheeks flashed a wild shade of red and she looked away but it was enough for Emma to detect that the brunette had indeed been flirting with her.

“I have to go, tell Henry I needed some air please,” Regina announced as she grabbed her coat and left the booth.

Emma called after her but it was pointless as she had already left by the time Emma shook herself out of her stupor and called out. Emma debated going after the woman but she didn’t know what to say if she did, sure she had come to the conclusion that she was developing feelings for Regina, for this Regina. But she didn’t know if she should act upon them, would it be fair to Regina to take things further despite her knowledge about the timeline problem. If everything snapped back then what would happen to this Regina, would she cease to exist and if so surely that meant that it was okay to explore these feelings further. Regina was clearly very unhappy and if Emma could provide some distraction from her horrible home life then surely that was a good thing. 

Emma shook her head as she heard herself justifying having an affair with a married woman and reminded herself that there was a very big chance that the timeline might not be able to be fixed. Then Emma would be stuck in this new Storybrooke and what would that mean for her and Regina. The headache that had been gnawing away at the back of her brain for the past few days returned and she put her head in her hands as she sighed.

“Where’s my mom?” Henry’s voice asked and Emma whipped her head up to look at him.

“She stepped outside, Kid, she needed some air,” Emma smiled softly at him.

He looked out the window and watched his mother standing in the cold air with her head lowered towards the ground, “is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s.. she’s okay,” Emma said quietly.

Henry looked at Emma thoughtfully, “are you her friend now?”

“Yep, trying to be,” Emma chuckled.

“Good,” Henry smiled at her, “she needs a friend like you.”

Henry smiled once more at her before leaving the diner and joining his mother. The waitress dished up a chicken salad and Emma regarded it with a sigh, it wasn’t at all what she wanted. She turned her head to watch Regina and Henry walking away from the diner and knew she had to figure out what it was that she did want.


	12. Chapter 12

Following her unsatisfactory late lunch Emma returned to the Sheriff's office, Archie took one look at her dusty uniform and smiled, "I wonder if you'd treat your own clothes in the same way," he commented with a chuckle.

"We could always find out by trialling it," Emma laughed, though if she were honest she wanted to continue wearing her uniform for reasons she was not quite ready to process yet.

"How are you settling in?" Archie asked as Emma sat in the chair opposite his desk and distractedly wiped at the dust on her trousers.

"Good, really good," Emma said with a smile, "Storybrooke's a nice place, quiet though."

"Not too quiet I hope?" Archie asked, "we wouldn't want to lose our new Deputy because of boredom!"

Emma smiled to herself, "oh, I'm definitely not bored, still lots to discover and people to meet."

"Good," Archie nodded, "can you meet me at the range around the back of the farmer's market tomorrow and we'll go through a quick sidearm test, see what kind of a shot you are and go through the safety manual."

Emma had already learnt not to argue with Archie and his fastidious ways and simply nodded, "first thing in the morning?"

Archie nodded and looked towards the door for a moment, "how's your special assignment coming along?"

"It's good," Emma replied nonchalantly, "still doesn't feel quite right to be spying on her."

Archie bit his lip slightly and looked towards the door again to make absolute sure they were alone, "if.. your investigations were to.. discover anything, I want you to know that you have my full support."

Emma frowned and regarded him seriously, "what do you mean?"

With a sigh Archie realised that Emma wasn't going to let him get away with hedging around the subject at hand, "if action needs to be taken.. I don't want you to think I'm in the Mayor's pocket. You can trust me to do the right thing."

"Do you know something I need to be aware of?" Emma asked firmly.

Archie licked his lips nervously and got up and walked around the desk and looked out of the office to double check they were alone before closing the door and returning to his chair, "I know the Mayor has been known to have a temper and I know there have been reports of possible domestic squabbles at the home address."

Emma nodded, "Regina did mention that she has attacked him on occasion but she assured me it wasn't the other way around."

Archie nodded knowingly, "Regina is a very proud woman, I don't think she would easily admit to anything unless she had to. Unless she had someone she knew she could trust."

Emma was beginning to get annoyed as she leaned forward and tersely asked, "are you telling me that the Mayor is abusive towards his wife?"

"I'm saying that I don't have any evidence either way," Archie admitted, "but I wouldn't be surprised."

"And you've done nothing about it?" Emma almost accused but just about managed to keep her tone neutral.

"I'm the Sheriff, I have to spend a lot of time with the Mayor," Archie explained, "Regina doesn't trust me to see to her best interests not to mention the fact that she'd never share any weaknesses with me anyway."

A loud rapping on the glass part of the office door caused Emma to spin around and look right into the eyes of none other than Mayor Leopold Blanchard. Upon seeing the two of them looking at him he opened the door and entered with a wide smile on his face, "sorry, I do hope I'm not interrupting any important law enforcement work but we do have a meeting," he nodded to Archie.

"Of course," Archie smiled and began shuffling papers on his desk, "Emma, the Mayor and I have an evening meeting every week to catch up on goings-on, we'll be a few hours so I'll say goodnight to you now and I'll see you in the morning at the range."

Emma stood up, "no problem," she tried to keep her tone light but she struggled to manage it as she edged around Leopold giving him her best smile in the hope that he wouldn't notice her sudden desire to throttle him. They exchanged brief pleasantries and farewells and Emma hurriedly left the station clenching her fists angrily as she walked up the street.

When you make a living out of taking on a new character and fooling people, such as Emma had done in her previous bailbonds work, you took a certain satisfaction in being so competent at it that you duped those around you. On the flipside it was maddening to discover that the same ploys had been used on you. On a rare few occasions Emma had been deep undercover only to discover that she was being played by the perp as well, when that had happened the blonde had known true rage but it was focused on herself for not seeing it.

As Emma walked she hurriedly reassessed everything she knew about the Blanchard family, had she been sucked in by the knowledge that they were fairy tale characters to assume that they wouldn't create complicated lies to protect their secrets. Or was Archie simply feeding off the same vibe that she had but without the opportunity to speak with Regina about it and had made incorrect assumptions. Conflict and anger coursed through her as she wondered if there was any violent conflict at 108 Mifflin Street and if there was, who was to blame.

By now Emma had walked away from the town centre and was marching through residential streets with no real destination or aim, she slowed her pace and gradually came to a stop as she considered her actions. The main question she had to ask herself was over whether or not she took action, if there was any need for action. She leaned against a tree and closed her eyes for a moment as she considered the situation.

She was attempting to correct the timeline. There was only supposed to be one. If she managed to correct the timeline all of this would disappear, there would be no Leopold Blanchard and everything would be back the way she recognised it. But how long could that take, if it could even be achieved. And what if she failed, if she was doomed to spend the rest of her life in this new Storybrooke, would she be able to ever look herself straight in eye again if she hadn't acted because she waited for something that never happened. If Regina was suffering in silence while Emma attempted to fix a wrong that couldn't be righted.

Emma opened her eyes as she realised she couldn't make a decision on what was for the best until she had all the information. She had to speak to Regina and she had to get to the truth of the matter, quickly changing direction she made her way to Mifflin Street while attempting to work out different scenarios as well as how she would deal with each of those different scenarios.

Before she had completely figured out what she was going to say she found herself knocking on the white wooden front door and holding her breath as she waited for an answer. The door opened and Henry looked up at her with a smile, "hey."

"Hi, Henry, is your mom in?" Emma asked as her eyes flicked up into the house to see if there was any evidence of the woman.

"Nah, she left me alone," Henry shrugged, "I'm just playing with knives and seeing how flammable gas is.."

Emma smirked at the boy, "okay, that was a stupid question, where is your mom, Henry?"

He smiled at her, "she's in the garden picking apples, you can walk round," he indicated the way with a point of his finger.

"Thanks, Kid," Emma smiled at him and shook her head at his sassy comment as she stepped off of the porch and walked around the side of the house. The garden was large and well maintained and Emma casually wondered if Regina was a keen gardener or if her efforts were focused on her beloved apple tree and a gardener was hired for the rest.

She quickly saw Regina with a wicker basket gently feeling apples and plucking them from the tree if they met her approval, she had changed into blue jeans and a casual white blouse and Emma found her eyes locking onto Regina's backside and then just as quickly averted her gaze.

"Hey," Emma said lightly, trying to not scare the brunette.

Regina jumped and turned around, dropping the basket of apples to the grass in her surprise.

Emma held her hands up in apology, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.."

Regina took a calming breath and nodded her acceptance of the apology, "it's fine, I'm jumpy by nature."

Emma dropped to her knees and began gathering apples that had rolled away from the basket she smiled at the scene, so reminiscent of her first days in Storybrooke when she took a chainsaw to Regina's precious tree. Watching the heavy branch collapse to the ground and apples spew everywhere had been enormously satisfying at the time, watching Regina's rage as she ran across the garden even more so.

Regina knelt down and righted the basket and began to place a few apples into the container as well.

"A lot of apples," Emma commented as she looked up at the tree.

"Yes, a lifetime's work," Regina commented as she placed apples in the basket, "an apple tree is not the easiest thing to care for. It takes a lot of time and effort, knowing how to prune it, when to pick the fruit, watching out for diseases. It's taken a very long time to reach this point."

Emma felt her stomach twist slightly at Regina's comments, suddenly not feeling quite so proud of her actions in her own timeline, "when did you start with the tree?"

"When I was a little girl," Regina answered, "my mother wanted to teach me patience."

"Must have worked," Emma commented.

"Oh yes, very much so," Regina laughed, "now it holds a very dear place in my heart, that must sound silly to you."

"Not at all, we all form attachments to things," Emma shrugged as she picked up the last apple and placed it in the basket before standing up and brushing grass from her knees.

"Yes," Regina agreed as she also stood up and rubbed her hands together to brush off the remaining debris, "the tree and I share something in common. Neither of us can leave this place and neither of us truly belongs."

Emma swallowed, "why do you think you don't belong?"

Regina remained silent, refusing to give an answer as she bent down and picked up a pair of garden clippers and began reaching up and trimming some branches.

Emma wondered if her Regina had such a close relationship with her own tree and considered that she probably did and suddenly she felt terrible for hacking a limb off of the tree, "can I ask an apple tree question?"

Regina chuckled, "you may.."

"In.. my old town.. some vandals took a chainsaw and cut a branch off of an apple tree. It was pretty much like this and the branch was," Emma took a step forward and saw the exact branch she had cut, "a bit like this one. Would the tree recover from that?"

Regina looked horrified, "they took a chainsaw to it?"

"Yes," Emma licked her lips nervously.

"Well," Regina considered it for a moment before looking at Emma seriously, "I hope you caught them and they were suitably punished!"

"Yes and yes," Emma nodded, "but I never checked up on the tree and I only just got to thinking about it."

"It would probably survive," Regina looked thoughtfully at the tree, "but it would take intensive maintenance for the next three to four years. The tree would probably not bear fruit in that time."

Emma nodded her head and blew out a breath.

"Was the owner knowledgeable of tree maintenance?" Regina asked.

"Yes, she.. she was a lot like you," Emma admitted lightly.

Regina nodded and returned her attention to the tree and Emma looked at the brunette thoughtfully, "I'm sorry I was so abrupt in the diner," Emma said softly.

Regina continued to prune the tree without speaking or looking at Emma and Emma continued, "I suppose I just wanted to ensure that we were on the same page.. I like you and I don't want anything to come between us and I think honesty is the best policy when it comes to these things."

"On the same page?" Regina asked cautiously as she turned to regard Emma.

"I like you, I'm hoping you like me too," Emma admitted with a small shrug.

"Like you?" Regina pushed, desperately seeking clarity.

"I've been flirting with you," Emma confessed, "I'm not great at it, but I have been. And I kinda hoped you were flirting with me too. I was a bit abrupt in trying to make sure we were both on the same page."

Regina stared at Emma somewhat speechlessly.

"Are we on the same page?" Emma asked carefully, "I won't be offended if we're not, as I said I want to be friends with you and I can do that.."

"We're.." Regina started hesitantly, "we're on the same page."

Emma felt her breath leave her lungs as she smiled happily and watched a smile form on Regina's face and before long they shared a laugh.

"Would you like something to drink?" Regina offered, indicating the kitchen with a turn of her head.

"Yes, I'd like that," Emma admitted and followed the brunette towards the open kitchen door. Her mind was reeling, she had come over simply to get to the truth about the Blanchard marriage and to ascertain if there was any abuse happening behind the pristine white door. Now she had somehow gotten caught up in something more, revealing her feelings to Regina and realising that they weren't one-sided and now she wondered how on earth they would proceed.

"What can I get you?" Regina asked as they entered the kitchen, "tea, coffee, juice, milk, cider, water.."

"Coffee is fine," Emma answered before Regina started naming every liquid under the sun.

Regina opened an eye-level cupboard and reached up to the top shelf to pull down a box of coffee filters and Emma noticed the bruising on her wrists had yet to disappear. Emma looked at them carefully, "Regina," she whispered softly.

"Yes, dear?" Regina asked as she set up the coffee machine.

"Will you be honest with me?" Emma asked quietly, causing the brunette to turn around and regard her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll try," she allowed and Emma knew that was the most that Regina could promise her.

"The Mayor," Emma started and watched as Regina's eyes instantly flicked away and she returned her attention to the coffee machine, "please, be honest with me.. does.. does he.."

"Do you watch scary movies, Deputy?" Regina suddenly asked.

"Erm," Emma shook her head in confusion, "yeah, sure, sometimes."

"You know that sensation, when you have watched a scary movie and your mind plays tricks on you? You begin to wonder if.. I don't know.. if someone is in the house, if that shadow in the garden is a murderer coming for you, if that creaking floorboard is because someone is upstairs waiting for you?" Regina asked as she focused all her attention on making two cups of coffee so as not to make any eye contact with Emma.

"When you have that feeling," Regina explained carefully, "you have two choices, you can allow yourself to submit to the fear, to creep around your house and avoid dark corners in case the monster is there. Or you can put those thoughts to the back of your mind, keep them there. Tightly held at bay. Because you don't want them in the forefront of your mind, because to allow them to exist there would give them oxygen to breath. Sometimes, the only way we can carry on is to press everything painful down, to just pretend it isn't there. Because if we deny ourselves that ability to distance ourselves from the truth, we may fall and never be able to get up again."

Emma felt faint suddenly as she listened to Regina's abstract explanation, it wasn't concrete evidence by any stretch of the imagination. Regina was basically telling Emma that she couldn't stand to admit to whatever was happening through fear that she wouldn't be able to repress everything again. To let it free would be like detonating a bomb within her emotions.

"Sometimes you just need someone who loves you enough to turn the scary movies off," Emma said softly, "so you don't have those fears, so you have nothing to fear."

"When you keep everything locked away it's very hard to let go," Regina admitted as she turned around and faced Emma, her back to the counter and her hands gripping it for support.

"I get that you don't want to talk about it," Emma nodded her understanding as she took a step forward, "but just.. know.. that I'm here for you. If you need anything I will help you, you don't have to do this alone."

Regina looked at the blonde, her mouth slightly open as she considered her words, but then her gaze dropped to Emma's lips. Emma noticed and took another step forward towards Regina without really thinking through what she was doing. They seemed to move at the same time, crashing together and lips meeting in a frenzy as they wrapped their arms around each other and passionately kissed while stumbling a little in the kitchen as they tried to regain their balance.

Emma wrenched her lips from Regina's and attacked the brunette's neck with her open mouth and was shocked to realise that she was living out a long-held fantasy and pointlessly wondered how long she'd had feelings for Regina, her Regina.

She felt Regina's knees begin to buckle weakly and quickly brought her hands across Regina's bottom and pulled the older woman's legs up to wrap them around her waist and pressed Regina's back into the wall behind her and returned her mouth to Regina's while supporting her weight easily.

Regina's hands wildly knotted in Emma's hair as she pulled the blonde's head as close as possible and held onto the blonde's waist with her legs. Suddenly the sound of the front door slamming closed echoed through the house and their eyes flew open and Emma quickly put Regina back onto the floor. They rapidly helped each other straighten the other's hair and cleaned up Regina's lipstick from around her mouth and wiped it away from Emma's entirely.

They had just finished and stepped away from each other as Leopold entered the kitchen with a large bouquet of flowers in his hand, he smiled at Regina and then looked at Emma happily, "Deputy! What a lovely surprise!"

"Yes, I was.. just.." Emma stuttered, literally not able to come up with a single lie.

"Sorry to interrupt your girl time," Leopold looked apologetically at Regina, "I cut my meeting with Sheriff Hopper short, I thought we could go out to dinner this evening."

"Oh, yes," Regina said lightly, accepting the proffered flowers and looking hesitantly at the older man, "that.. would be lovely."

"First rule of a happy marriage, Deputy," Leopold put his arm possessively around Regina's shoulders and smiled warmly, "happy wife, happy life."

"I'll be sure to remember that, Sir," Emma nodded, "I'll.. leave you to it."

Regina quickly stepped out of Leopold's embrace, "I'll show you out," she turned to Leopold, "darling, would you mind pouring some coffee, the machine has just finished brewing."

"Of course, my sweet," the man said as he turned to the machine and picked out two mugs.

Regina hurried Emma towards the front door and when they got there they regarded each other silently.

"I'm sorry," the both said at the same time and then smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Emma promised, "and I meant what I said, if you need anything then.."

"I can take care of myself," Regina said with a nod, "but thank you."

Emma looked at the extravagant bunch of flowers, "apology flowers?"

"Something like that," Regina allowed quietly.

"I don't like leaving you here," Emma admitted softly.

"We'll talk tomorrow," Regina said tenderly as she looked towards the kitchen to check they were still alone, once she was sure they were she pressed a soft kiss into Emma's cheek, "good night, Emma."

Emma closed her eyes and relished the feel of soft lips to her cheek before opening them and nodding her goodbye, not trusting her voice not to falter. She opened the door and quickly left the house, walking away with no real idea where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there her mind a distracted mess of more questions than answers.


	13. Chapter 13

Emma spent most of the night tossing and turning in her bed, her brain conjuring up a hundred different settings from her meddling with the timeline to her interfering with Regina’s life. She felt like she was completely out of control and it wasn’t a feeling she liked one bit. 

She was almost grateful for the knock at her door at six o’clock in the morning, even if she did wonder if perhaps she should speak to Ruby about security as it seemed entirely too easy to get in and out of bed and breakfast at all hours. She looked down at her blue tartan pyjamas and shrugged, it was probably Regina or Henry anyway and they had both seen her in far worse. Opening the door she saw Gold regarding her with a smirk.

“What a delightful shade of blue, Miss Swan,” he said as he invited himself in. He was fully dressed in his traditional dark suit, shirt and tie and leaned on his cane as he looked around the room.

“I’ll assume you didn’t just come here to discuss my pyjamas,” Emma asked as she closed the door and smothered a yawn behind her hand as she flopped into the chair at the desk and waited for Gold to speak.

“I’m getting impatient,” Gold announced, “besides the clock starting nothing has happened, the curse isn’t weakening and I’m wondering if you’re as invested as you ought to be.”

“Of course I’m invested,” Emma snapped at him, “I don’t get Henry back in my life until the curse is broken.”

It was a partial truth, having Henry absent from her life really was soul-destroying but in honesty she was more interested in correcting the timeline than she was breaking the curse.

“It’s taking too long,” Gold told her tersely.

“You waited twenty-eight years, you can wait a couple more weeks,” Emma told him, “besides, if this is your curse then surely you can leave the town?”

“Yes, but where would I go?” Gold asked her sarcastically, “without magic I can’t find Bae.”

“I’ll give you his address,” Emma told him with a sarcastic laugh, “at least we don’t have to track him down like last time, we know exactly where he is.”

“You think I haven’t tried that?” Gold laughed back at her.

“What happened?” Emma asked with a sigh, “you scared him off, right?”

“The exact circumstances are irrelevant,” he sniffed, “the result is that I don’t know where Bae is and I need magic to find him. Magic that I can only bring back once you have broken the curse.”

Emma looked up at him, “I’m working on it, I’m in with the Blanchard’s now which means I’m closer to Henry. I’m working on other angles as well so something is bound to work, I mean the clock has started so that has to mean something, right?”

Gold regarded her for a moment before he nodded, “don’t lose focus, I’ll check up on you again tomorrow.”

Emma just rolled her eyes in response as he left the room. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep she pulled out her notebook and pen and started to make more notes on the timeline, she’d become a little remiss since meeting Cora but there was still plenty of new discoveries to note down. She made sure not to mention Cora, she was sure that Gold would find it if she were to do anything that foolish.

When she had finished she took a long, hot shower and attempted to keep her hands occupied with washing her hair and her body as her mind kept drifting to the passionate kiss she had share with Regina the evening before. For a long time she leaned her forehead against the cool tiles and allowed the water to rush over her while she thought about what she was doing. She hated the idea that she was wrecking a marriage, cheating could never be condoned in her mind. But Regina wasn’t a willing participant in the marriage. Her cursed self simply knew she was stuck in wedlock with a man she despised, even if she couldn’t quite fathom out why. 

As the water rolled off of Emma’s body she knew that either way this was going to end badly. She was either going to be sneaking around in this timeline, inevitably get caught but remain stranded in Storybrooke as Regina couldn’t leave, having to try to explain to Regina why they couldn’t leave. Or she was going to return to her own timeline where Regina had only recently decided they could be sort of friends. But she couldn’t stop herself, she had never understood what it was to be so utterly drawn to someone until now, when she couldn’t stop thinking about Regina.

Reluctantly she got herself out of the shower and got dressed in her uniform which she had managed to clean the night before, standing in front of the mirror she put on her tie attempting to make it look untidy but not deliberately so. She did it several times before she was satisfied with the casual nature of its imperfection before heading to the shooting range to meet up with Archie.

Despite her distraction at her impending love triangle and being anxious to get back to the well to see what Cora had discovered she managed to pass all of Archie’s tests with flying colours. The safety speech went on long enough that Emma had completely tuned out by the time Archie finally assigned her a service weapon and she took it wordlessly.

“Are you okay, Emma?” Archie asked as he packed away the safety manual.

“Yeah, just didn’t get much sleep last night,” Emma admitted, “I’ll be fine once I get some lunch and some fresh air.”

“Well, you’re free to go,” Archie grinned at her, “congratulations, you did well today.”

“Thanks,” Emma smiled at the sweet man and left the Sheriff’s office to make her way to Granny’s for a to-go lunch. As soon as she was out of the door and onto the street she literally crashed into Regina.

“Regina, I’m so sorry,” Emma said as she held her hands out to steady the woman.

“It’s okay,” Regina smiled as she righted herself with the aid of Emma’s outstretched arms, “where are you off to in a hurry?”

“Lunch,” Emma admitted with a blush.

“Oh, desperate for another chicken salad?” Regina grinned as she regarded Emma’s tie with interest, “that’s diabolical and very obvious.”

“What?” Emma tried to look innocent as she attempted to look at her own tie but quickly realised she couldn’t.

“I know you can tie a tie, Emma,” Regina laughed.

Emma regarded Regina with surprise, “you mean my tie was always fine, you just corrected it for the hell of it?”

“Not quite for the hell of it,” Regina admitted with a soft smile, “but that looks atrocious.”

Emma laughed lightly, “you’re really something Regina..” she swallowed quickly as she very nearly said Mills, “..erm, do you want to join me for lunch?”

“Unfortunately I can’t,” Regina said with a sigh, “I have to go and pick Henry up from school.”

“How come?” Emma frowned, hoping the kid wasn’t in trouble again.

“He’s not very well, or he claims to be unwell,” Regina rolled her eyes, “it’s hard to tell sometimes.”

“I hope he’s okay,” Emma said, “maybe I can see you later?”

Regina nodded, “I’m sure we’ll bump into each other at some point, maybe literally again.”

Emma grimaced, “I am sorry about that, I have a lot going on today.”

“I’ll leave you to your lunch,” Regina smiled as she sidestepped Emma and took one more look at her tie and snorted a laughed before smiling and walking away.

Emma shook her head and unravelled her tie as she crossed the road to Granny’s and quickly retied her tie as she entered the diner and ordered a grilled cheese and cola to go.

Emma ate and drank as she drove out towards the woods, thankful for Storybrooke’s small population and lack of vehicles on the road. She had finished by the time she got to where she needed to be and took off at a jog through the trees to get to the water well and Cora as soon as possible. 

When she got there she couldn’t see the woman and leaned over the brick well and called out her name.

“Cora? You down there?” 

“Yes, pull me up,” Cora demanded and Emma rolled her eyes as she understood where Regina had inherited some of her personality from.

Emma lowered the bucket and waited for Cora to put a foot into the bucket and hold onto the rope and pulled her up to the surface. She held out her hand to help the older woman down from the ledge and Cora smiled gratefully at Emma.

“I think I have a solution,” Cora announced with a smug smile.

“Great!” Emma felt relief wash over her.

“I presume Rumpel has my belongings? The little imp likes to collect things of value, both sentimental and material,” Cora rolled her eyes at the thought.

“He has a shop filled with things,” Emma agreed, “he may have your belongings somewhere there.”

“Good,” Cora smirked, “when Regina was a little girl I hid something very precious in one of her name day gifts, in case I would need it at a later date. Turns out I did need it but didn’t have time to retrieve it.”

Cora looked at Emma seriously, “do you know what a water globe is?”

“Is that like a snow globe?” Emma asked, “a scene in a glass ball with water inside it, you shake it,” she motioned and Cora nodded.

“Precisely,” the older woman smiled, “Regina loved horses so I created a water globe with a stable scene, horses playing, you get the idea?”

At Emma’s nod Cora continued, “in the base of the ornament is a magic bean, it is cloaked under a protection spell so Rumpel won’t be aware of its existence.”

“I can use the bean to jump back in time,” Emma whispered as realisation hit her.

“You’re aware of magic beans,” Cora understood with relief.

“Yes, I’ve.. had experience of them,” Emma said without going into too much detail.

“Good,” Cora nodded, “you need to find the water globe and break it. Throw the bean onto the ground and when the portal opens you need to jump in while thinking about what happened the previous time you were sucked into a portal. You should land at exactly the same time and place, you then just need to prevent yourself from having the conversation that triggered the chain reaction. The portal will reopen thirty minutes later to bring you back. If you were successful you will return to where you originally started, back in your timeline before your entered the portal. If you’re unsuccessful you will return to this timeline to wherever you jumped into the portal.”

“Okay,” Emma nodded, “sounds simple enough. But won’t there be any problems if I talk to myself, like, past me?”

“No,” Cora shook her head, “you’re rewriting time so that wouldn’t have happened. It will be confusing for your other self at the time but it will come to pass that it never happened.”

Emma looked bewildered and Cora simply smiled, “time travel is always a perplexing matter but trust me I have researched this well, I am just as invested as you are to return to the correct timeline.”

Emma attempted to maintain a neutral face, hoping that Cora wouldn’t pick up on anything in her expression to make the older woman think that something was amiss. 

“Okay,” Emma nodded as she looked at the ground as she took in and processed all the information, “right, I’ll go and look for this water globe.”

“Good luck,” Cora said, “and hopefully I will see you in our own timeline.”

Emma regarded Cora with a smile, “yes, and we’ll have no memory of this I presume?”

“Oh, you will,” Cora acknowledged, “you’re rewriting time around you, you’ll remember all of this. But no one else will.”

With a nod Emma regarded the older woman one last time, “thank you, Cora,” Emma said genuinely before leaving the clearing and heading back to the Bug in a run.

She felt guilty about double-crossing Cora but she knew she had to do it if she was to correct her mistakes. Reminding herself of Cora’s own crimes she suddenly didn’t feel too guilty about what she was doing. 

An hour later Emma was waiting just up the road from Gold’s shop, knowing that the man often closed up the shop in the mid-afternoon. She sat and waited nervously until she saw him exit the shop and lock the door and start walking in the opposite direction. Emma waited a few moments to ensure he was gone before she got out of the car and ran towards the shop, heading down the alleyway to the side of the shop she knelt by the side door to the building and got her lock picks out of her jacket pocket.

After a few moments she heard the satisfying click and opened the door, putting the picks back into her jacket pocket she quickly entered the shop and closed the door behind her. She looked around with a sigh, the shop was a mass of objects and she had no idea where to begin as she quickly stalked around, her eyes scanning various cabinets and shelves. The place was literally crammed from top to bottom with stuff and she quickly moved around the shop as she searched.

She took her search into the back room which was more of a mess than the shop and raced around looking in cupboards and on shelves before returning to the shop. It was then that she saw it, hidden behind a Mickey Mouse cuddly toy that she had always thought looked out of place in the store. Picking up the snow globe carefully she looked at the intricate scene within the glass and swallowed hard as she realised this was what she had been looking for. 

Without a care she threw the globe at the floor and watched as the glass smashed into thousands of pieces and water and confetti flooded from it and covered the floor. With her boot she kicked aside a few pieces of the stable scene and there it was, a magic bean, glistening at her. She picked it up and held it to her chest for a moment, relief flashing through her as she began to believe that she was actually about to correct her mistakes and repair the timeline. She promised herself that she would never again mess with the timeline. Except for how she was about to mess with it right now, she amended.

Throwing the bean at the ground she smiled as a portal began to open beneath her feet, with a moment to focus on the exact time and place she wanted to travel to she jumped into the bright light and felt the familiar pull of the portal.

The next thing she knew she was on her hands and knees in a forest, she looked up and saw herself just in front of where she was on the ground. It was the moment just before Belle arrived, all she needed to do was stop her other self from talking to Belle and everything would be fine. She stood up and took a step forward to approach her other self when suddenly she felt herself pushed to the ground be an invisible, intense force. The wind was knocked out of her and she tried to shout out but she found no sound came out her mouth. She attempted to push herself up and stand but a weight came down on her back and she realised with shock that someone was sitting on her back. 

Craning her neck around, she saw Rumpelstiltskin, his shiny and scaly skin showing him in his earlier transformation into the Dark One. He melodramatically placed his open hands on either side of his face and silently ooo’d at her predicament before unnecessarily shushing her as he cupped his ear to listen to the sound of Emma and Belle speaking.

“You didn’t think I’d let you fix your mistake that easily did you, dearie?” Rumpelstiltskin mocked her.

“Oh, no, no, no. I knew what you were planning before you did, I’m the Dark One. I can see these things, you know,” he laughed manically, “you see, back in your timeline,” he paused as he waved his fingers around in confusion, “your original timeline, that is, I cast a wee spell, an insurance policy if you will. You see, I always wondered if Belle would betray me, it’s just the kind of man I am. So I cast a spell, that if Belle should ever trick me, should ever banish me from Storybrooke a portal would open and suck in the Saviour right to this point in time. You would talk to Belle, she would realise her undying love for me.”

He stood up and Emma rushed to her hands and knees as he knelt beside her, “and when she did I would know that the only reason she did so on this day and at this time was because in the future, she betrayed me.”

Emma tried to speak but some kind of silencing spell was in place and she was unable to form any words.

“So, you see, I wouldn’t feel so bad.. you know, when I killed her,” he giggled.

“Funny thing, time,” he announced as he jumped to his feet, “it’s complicated, you can’t just pop back and fix a mistake, dearie.”

Emma stood up and made to run at him but he waved his hand and she felt herself suspended in the air and immobilised.

“What’s that?” he cupped his ear to her melodramatically, “how did I know you’d be here? Well, I didn’t, but I guessed. I knew someone as headstrong as the spawn of the Charming’s would try to rectify her mistake. And this is exactly how you’d do it. So all I needed to was wait.”

Emma attempted to struggle as tears fell down her face at the hopelessness of it all.

“How does it feel, Saviour?” he laughed as he looked into the distance, “to know that right now, just over there, just out of your reach is.. you! Messing everything up! Again!”

With a grin he jumped up onto a fallen log and waved his hand and a box of popcorn appeared in his other hand, “this bit’s my favourite bit,” he commented with a giggle as Belle could be seen in the distance running, “she’s running back to me,” he smiled and tilted his head at Emma, “naaaaw!”

A few moments later a flash of light appeared and soon after vanished again, “and that’s you, heading back to.. well..” he shook his head, “somewhere. Meddling complete, job done.”

He waved his hand and Emma collapsed to the ground and screamed, “you bastard! I’ll kill you!”

“No, you won’t, dearie,” he said as the popcorn disappeared and his expression darkened, “by my reckoning you have seventeen minutes until your return portal opens. You can use that time to sit and think about what you’ve done, the people who have died because of you, the lives you have ruined.”

With a cloud of dark green smoke he disappeared and Emma knelt in the mud and the fallen leaves with tears in her eyes as she looked around helplessly and began to cry in earnest. She fell into the foetal position and cried as she realised that her one chance of fixing the timeline had been destroyed and that she was now permanently stuck in the new Storybrooke, the one where she had no family, the one where she had to try to break the curse despite having no idea how to do it. The one where Henry didn’t know who she was and Regina.. well, that was now even more complicated.

After a while, around seventeen minutes, she realised the soft ground of leaves and mud had given way to the hard wooden floor of the shop and she opened her eyes to see a pair of shiny black shoes and the silver tip on the end of a black wooden cane.

She looked up and through her watery tears she saw Gold looking down at her, she swallowed in fear of what would come next.

“You stupid girl,” he mumbled with a small shake of the head, “when will you learn that you can’t win?”

He stepped around her, glass fracturing under his feet as he walked, “go back to your room, sleep and come to the inevitable conclusion that you are stuck here. Break the curse and you and your boy will live.”

Emma crawled up to her hands and knees and slowly stood up on shaky legs and regarded him with emotionally drained exhaustion.

“Go, Miss Swan, before I lose my temper,” he told her firmly and she quickly took his advice and left the shop.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have raised the rating of this story due to some sexual points and a darkened story line, proceed with caution.

Emma half fell through the door to her room at the bed and breakfast and stumbled forward before slamming the door closed behind her and quickly sitting on the floor and leaning her back against the door. By some amazing twist of luck she hadn’t encountered anyone on her teary stumble back to the diner and had managed to get to her room without hindrance.

A couple of times she had thought about turning around and returning to the shop and shooting Gold until she was out of bullets and then giving him a few kicks for good measure. But that just wasn’t her, no matter how bad things seemed and no matter how long she was surrounded by fairy tale characters and their questionable morals, she wasn’t a murderer. Death in general had always made her squirm, the very notion of someone being there and then suddenly not being there was terrifying to her. Probably something to do with her childhood and a lack of permanence which had etched itself into her brain and given her a fear of loss. 

Right now she was losing her mind, she cried wholeheartedly and distractedly wondered if she would perhaps pass from the pain that she was feeling, the tightening in her chest was so strong she felt for sure she was near her own demise. She could barely catch a breath in between the sobs that wracked through her body and she knew she had to control herself, she had to try to calm down and work on another plan, there had to be another way.

With determination she began to focus her breathing, in and out, deep breaths and attempted to regulate her tears. With a shaky hand she pulled her phone out of her pocket and wiped her tears on her sleeve as she tried to focus on the screen, it took a few minutes but eventually she was able to see the screen and press the necessary buttons to advise Archie that she was home sick and would see him in the morning. The last thing she needed was Archie seeking her out and finding her a mess of tears.

After a few more minutes she had managed to stop her tears from falling and her breathing was slowly getting back to normal. She stood on shaky legs and used the wall for support as she walked into the bathroom and regarded herself in the mirror. With a sigh she turned on the cold water tap and splashed her red and blotchy face with water before drying her face and blowing her nose. A second glance in the mirror showed some improvement and she took a deep breath and went back into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed and stared down at the floor.

Rumpelstiltskin had planned this because of his fear that Belle would one day see him for the conniving, power-crazed monster that he really was. As soon as Belle ordered the older man to cross the town line, rendering him trapped and powerless, a series of events were set in motion to rewrite the timeline to allow him to be the one who betrayed Belle first. Emma shook her head, the man was unreal and with a shudder she wondered how many other plans and counter-plans he had. How many other insurance policies did he have which would involve him destroying people’s lives.

Everything seemed hopeless to Emma as she wondered if the man already knew everything, did he know about Cora, did he know about their plans to fix the timeline. Did she have no free will at all, was she just a chess piece being moved around Rumpelstiltskin’s chessboard to allow him to get whatever it was he desired.

She didn’t know how long she sat there looking down at the floor but when the knock on the door came she realised that the room was beginning to get dark as the sun was setting. She shook her head and stood up and opened the door, relieved to see Regina stood on the other side of it.

Regina stood in the hallway and regarded her with a confused look, “Emma? Are you okay?”

Emma stood to one side to allow the brunette into the room and as soon as she was inside she silently closed the door and turned to Regina who was busy looking at Emma’s trousers, “is that, is that crushed glass?”

Emma glanced distractedly down at the white powdery residue that remained on her trousers from where she had lay in the broken glass of the snow globe on the floor of Gold’s shop.

“Archie said you had gone home early because you were unwell?” Regina asked gently as she looked at Emma with concern, “what happened?”

“I..” Emma began but she couldn’t think of a suitable lie and the truth wasn’t something Regina could hear right now, “I.. just had a hell of a day,” she finished with a sad nod.

“You’ve been crying,” Regina pointed out, her brow furrowed as she tried to ascertain what on earth was going on with the blonde.

“Yes, I’m..” Emma let out a long breath, “I’m.. feeling better now you’re here,” she admitted.

“Emma..” Regina breathed, “talk to me..”

Emma looked at Regina and saw the care and compassion in her eyes and sniffed as she spoke, “I.. I made a mistake and I thought I could fix it but I just found out that I can’t. I’d kinda been holding onto it but now I have to let it go and..” she looked at Regina with a smile, “I have to get on with my life.”

Regina smiled, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you all day,” she confessed, “while I’m not proud of.. cheating.. the marriage has been dead for as long as I can remember. I want to be with you and I can’t seem to think of anything else.”

Emma’s face lit up with happiness at the admission and nodded, “I feel the same way, I know it’s fast but.. I feel like I’ve known you a long time.”

“I feel that way too,” Regina cocked her head to the side as she considered the curious nature of the feeling, “I’m leaving Leopold, I cannot for the life of me understand why we are still together. It’s as if I’ve been living in a fog and it’s only recently started to lift.”

Emma’s jaw fell open in shock, “you’re.. you’re leaving him?”

“Yes, I haven’t told him yet, I wanted you to know before I did it,” Regina explained, “I wanted you to know that, well, that I’m doing this for me. I don’t want you to feel pressured that I am doing this for us, for you. I’m leaving him because I want to, because it’s best for me and best for Henry. I want to live my life again, I don’t feel like it’s been my own.. well, since forever.”

¬Emma couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face, maybe she was starting to break the curse after all. Maybe people were slowly beginning to wake up to the facts surrounding their lives and soon more questions would be asked and then, surely, the curse would break.

“Are you going to say anything?” Regina asked with a small chuckle at Emma’s smiling, silent expression.

“Erm, yeah,” Emma shook her head, “wow, that’s.. really great news,” she smiled, “I’m really happy for you, for both of you. How is Henry by the way?”

“He has a small cold, Mary Margaret is with him, I’m sure he could have stayed at school but considering everything I thought it best to bring him home,” Regina admitted.

They looked at each other in silence for a few moments while each struggled with their own thoughts, eventually Regina stepped forward and started to undo Emma’s tie in the now-familiar motion.

“My tie a mess again?” Emma asked with a smile as Regina unthreaded the material and straightened out the two twisted ends and held one in each hand in front of Emma’s chest.

“No,” Regina disclosed softly, “it was fine.”

She began wrapping the ends of the tie around her fingers, causing Emma to take a step forward when the tie shortened in length. Emma smiled as Regina’s eyes flickered up from where they had been staring at Emma’s top button to her lips and finally to her eyes. 

Their eyes fluttered closed as they leaned the small distance to press their lips together, Regina’s hands still knotted in the material of the black tie and holding Emma firmly to her. The kiss was soft, exploring and unrushed. Nothing like the passionate embrace in the Blanchard kitchen the evening before. 

Emma’s mind was still spinning to catch up with what was happening which was difficult as Regina’s tongue was softly but assuredly demanded access to her mouth. She opened her mouth and deepened the kiss and felt her stomach clench with pleasure at Regina’s soft moan that was swallowed up by the kiss.

Without her permission her brain revisited the question of her own freewill, if she really was a pawn in some scheme that she couldn’t even hope to begin to understand then surely she should take her joy and pleasure wherever she could. She wrapped her arms firmly around Regina and ran her hands possessively over the brunette’s back. 

If she really had destroyed her only chance at returning the timeline to the way it should be, if she really was stuck here and it had all been written in some unchangeable tome then why not just accept it. In a quick and practiced movement Emma began to back Regina up towards the bed and removed one of her hands from her back and brought it to her side and ran it up the sleek figure, a thumb grazing the older woman’s breast. 

Regina seemed to understand what was happening and unknotted her hands from Emma’s tie and wrapped one hand around the blonde’s back and the other plunged into Emma’s hair.

Emma lowered Regina quickly to the bed without breaking the kiss and brought her knees up onto the bed to straddle across Regina’s hips. They hurriedly explored one another until Regina tore her mouth away from the kiss, “come away with me, Emma,” she smiled, “let’s go to the house and pick up Henry and leave this place.”

“Leave Storybrooke?” Emma clarified hoping to keep the rising panic out of her tone.

“Yes, you can’t like it here, it’s not exactly the life and soul of Maine,” Regina laughed, “we could go anywhere, your son could join us, oh good lord, I don’t even know his name!”

Emma smiled down at the happy and questioning face looking back up at her and quickly nodded, “David, and yes, I would love that, you, me and the boys,” she confirmed, desperately not wanting Regina to think any hesitation on Emma’s part was because of Henry’s presence and thinking she’d have to come up with an excuse for her imaginary son.

It was all getting too much and too fast, her lies were already starting to cause problems and she needed time to think, time to come up with a reason why they couldn’t leave because at that moment all thought processes had completely left her, “I..” she stuttered, “I just need to use the bathroom, and get out of these trousers.. I’m worried about getting glass on you.”

Quickly standing up and grabbing a pair of jeans she watched as Regina sat up on her elbows and regarded her with a smile, “I’ll be right back,” she said as she thumbed the bathroom door and quickly locked herself in the room.

She let out a long breath of air as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she had Regina’s lipstick on her mouth again and she smiled as she plucked a tissue from the box beside the sink and wiped it away. Of course Regina would want to leave Storybrooke but Emma had to think of a way of convincing her to stay, something that sounded reasonable. And then there was her imaginary son, she had to tackle that particular issue quickly. She had to decide whether she came clean and admitted that she didn’t have a son but then find a reason why she lied to Mary Margaret and why she was hanging around the school. 

She shook her head at her stupidity and naivety that she would be able to get back to her own timeline so quickly that she made up a story about a non-existent son. Quickly taking off her shoes she started to remove her trousers to replace them with her clean jeans while she debated exactly what to tell Regina. She’s been careless and foolish with many things but she couldn’t do that with Regina, for some reason the woman had quickly become an important part of Emma’s life and even the thought of not having her beside her was enough to cause a quickening of breath.

Quickly freshening up Emma checked herself in the mirror one more time before opening the door and smiling at Regina who was standing by the window. With a frown on her face. Reading Emma’s notebook with confusion.

“Regina,” Emma whispered.

“What is this?” Regina looked up at Emma with bewilderment.

“It’s nothing, just ignore it,” Emma said lightly and began to step into the room but stopped when Regina stiffened at her approach. Of course Regina was wondering what the hell her new girlfriend was doing writing about fairy tales and people in the town.

“Emma,” Regina warned as her eyes darted from the pages in her hand to the blonde stood on the other side of the bed. Emma saw the darkness outside and realised that Regina had gone to the table by the window to switch the lamp on and had seen the notes, she cursed herself for being stupid enough to leave them there.

“It’s nothing,” Emma repeated, “just some stupid..”

“Don’t lie to me,” Regina barked, “you.. you think Mary Margaret is.. is Snow White? You’re obsessed with fairy tales, and what’s EQ that you have by my name? How did you know my maiden name was Mills? Have you been stalking me?”

Emma held her hands up, “let me explain, please, calm down..”

Regina regarded Emma cautiously but nodded for her to continue.

“Henry’s right,” Emma began carefully, “something isn’t right about Storybrooke, haven’t you noticed that everything remains the same? That people can’t remember time very well? Surely you’ve noticed something?”

“Go on..” Regina said quietly as Emma sat on her side of the bed and looked across at Regina who was slowly moving towards the end of the bed with the pieces of paper in her hand.

“This will sound insane,” Emma laughed, “but you have to trust me.. Storybrooke, it’s cursed.”

“Cursed?” Regina’s eyebrow raised.

“Yes, fairy tale characters.. they’re real, I know this sounds crazy but they are and if you let me explain I think you’ll understand,” Emma pleaded.

Regina placed the pieces of paper on the end of the bed and looked at Emma expectantly, “okay, Emma, explain it to me..”

Emma smiled gratefully, “have you heard of Rumpelstiltskin?”

Regina nodded slowly as she regarded Emma cautiously.

“He is here, all fairy tale characters are here, like.. like Ruby! Ruby is Little Red Riding Hood, it’s hard to see at first but there are little clues,” Emma struggled to figure out a good way to explain quickly.

“Like she delivers food in a wicker basket and wears a red coat?” Regina asked.

“Exactly!” Emma said happily.

Regina pulled out the chair in front of the desk and looked like she was about to sit down, “you’re right,” she said softly, “you do sound insane.”

Regina quickly threw the chair towards Emma and ran for the door Emma pushed the chair to one side and ran after Regina calling her name as she went. Emma quickly followed Regina down the two flights of stairs to the rear entrance of the bed and breakfast and watched the brunette throw herself through the door and into the street.

Emma had just hit the bottom step and could see the dark, rainy Storybrooke street through the open door when she heard a sickening thud followed by the sound of screeching tyres. She paused for a second, not wanting to see, not wanting to know, wanting to deny what she knew had happened.

A split second later she ran out of the door to see what she had already predicted in her mind, Regina’s body, motionless in the road.

“Regina!” Emma cried out and sprinted over to her, the car that had hit her had momentarily stopped but then sped off up the road at the sight of the Deputy approaching the injured woman in the road.

Emma stopped a short distance from Regina’s body and brought her hand up to cup her mouth in shock, it was obvious that she was dead. 

“R-r-regina?” Emma stammered as she fell to her knees in the middle of the wet road and looked at the brunette with terror. She reached a shaky hand towards Regina and felt for a pulse under her jaw but as she already knew, there was nothing. The rain was lashing down and Emma stared at Regina’s bloodied and lifeless body, unable to look away for several moments.

Emma stumbled up to her feet and stared open mouthed at the scene, the scene she was to blame for. Tears began to fall, instantly mixing with the rain drops that cascaded down her face. She did what she knew best. She ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust me.


	15. Chapter 15

Emma didn’t really know what she was doing or where she was going just that she needed to get away from everyone, from everything. No matter how hard she ran she could still see Regina’s body lying in the road and she paused and leaned against a tree as she threw up for the second time in the last couple of minutes. The second she finished retching she starting running again. It had been ten minutes since the crash, ten minutes since she’d known that Regina was gone, ten minutes since she started running. 

She was finally out of tears, she had none left in her body and she distantly realised that the events at Gold’s shop were not worthy of tears now she had experience real suffering. She had left the scene of the crime, wanting to get as far away from it as possible, and headed towards the woods around the back of Storybrooke where she knew she would be alone.

It was dark and only the light glow of the moonlight stop her from running straight into trees as she tore through the woods at high speed, slipping occasionally on the wet leaves on the ground. She tripped over a branch that had fallen from one of the trees and surged into a pile of wet leaves and screamed out in frustration as she pushed herself back up to her feet and wobbled for a moment.

She turned, scanning the treeline for something, anything, she needed to make a connection with something real because she felt she was losing her mind. She had no one left. With a scream she hit her clenched fist at a tree trunk as she thought about Henry being told that his mother was dead, she couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a mother like that.

She froze as she remembered Cora. She had to tell Cora. She spun around a few times to figure out where she was before eventually running in the direction where she hoped the well was. Before long her muscles were aching and there was a pain in her left knee where she had crashed to the ground but that didn’t stop in her desperation to reach the well.

When she burst into the clearing she screamed Cora’s name desperately but there was no response. Reaching the well she looked down into the darkness and called again and again but there was nothing. She took a step back and fell against a tree and sat on the ground leaning back, it was then that she remembered the tree was the very one that Regina, her Regina, had leant on after rescuing her and Mary Margaret. She quickly scooted away from the tree and glared at it as if it had done something to offend her as she recalled the interaction, Regina looking frightened and concerned while Emma told her that she had met Cora.

She thought it not possible but fresh tears formed in her eyes and she slowly lay on the ground and sobbed as she tried to fight the memories of Regina, both hers and this Regina from driving her insane.

~*~*~*~*~

“Hello?”

Emma opened an eye. She felt like she’d been in a fight, everything hurt and she couldn’t figure out where she was. Bright light shone in her eyes and she realised with a jolt that she was outside. She got up on her hands and knees and frowned as she saw the well and then it all came back to her in a split-second flash of recollection. Regina was gone. 

“Hello?”

Emma stood up and stumbled towards the well, “Cora?”

“Emma?” Cora called back, “I returned here so I assume the plan failed?”

“Cora, I’m so sorry,” Emma started to cry again.

“Pull me up,” Cora demanded, “I can’t talk to you from down here.”

Emma briefly wondered if she should help Cora to the surface, she was about to tell the woman that she was responsible for her daughter’s death. Then again she felt like she probably deserved a punch in the face or whatever other punishment Cora deemed suitable.

She lowered the bucket and waited for Cora to pull on the rope to indicate she was ready and she wound the rope back up and helped her out of the well. Before she was even fully out of the well Cora regarded her with concern.

“What happened, child?” Cora blinked at Emma’s state and Emma couldn’t even begin to imagine what she must have looked like after the crying and the run through the woods, not to mention sleeping on the forest floor.

“Rumpelstiltskin,” Emma started with a sob, “he knew I’d go back, he was waiting for me, he prevented me from stopping me.. the other me..”

“I see,” Cora sighed but regarded Emma curiously, “what else?”

“I am so sorry,” Emma breathed sincerely.

“Sorry about what?” Cora asked, figuring out that Emma wasn’t referring to the botched plan.

“Regina’s.. dead,” Emma admitted softly, tears falling freely down her face.

Cora paled, “d-dead? How?”

“She..” Emma paused, “it was an accident, she ran in front of.. a horse and carriage,” she didn’t fancy explaining to Cora the concept of a combustion engine.

Cora swallowed and stiffened as she took the information in, “I see,” she said simply.

Emma slipped to the ground beside the well and hugged her knees to her chest, “it was my fault, I’m the reason she ran.”

Cora quietly sat beside Emma with her legs out in front of her and her hands neatly arranged in her lap, “you.. care for my daughter,” she said simply.

Emma nodded silently as more tears fell.

Cora nodded as she stared forward and considered this, “are you in a relationship?”

“No,” Emma sniffed, “it’s complicated.”

“Oh, it always is,” Cora chuckled, “I think it’s high time you told me who you really are.”

Emma felt all the fight had left her as she sagged heavily against the well, “I’m the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, I was sent to a world without magic when I was a baby to avoid the curse and I came to Storybrooke on my twenty-eight birthday and broke the curse where they had all been frozen in time. When I was younger I had a child who I gave up for adoption, his name is Henry and he found me when he was ten and brought me back to Storybrooke. Regina is his adoptive mother.”

She looked up at Cora who was wide-eyed as she processed that download of information, “I have a grandson,” she said with a tilt of the head, “a ten-year-old grandson.”

“Yes, well, kinda,” Emma sighed as she hugged her knees closer to her chest.

“Henry, like her father,” Cora smiled to herself before frowning, “how did Henry find you?”

Emma sighed as she tried to figure out how to explain the complex situation, “he.. he had a book. Well, no, Mary Margaret, Snow White, found a book about fairy tales. Which, in my world, is what you all are, stories. And Henry looked at the book and realised that he was in a town filled with fairy tale characters. He decided that I was the Saviour and came and found me and brought me back to break the curse.”

“Why did he think you were the Saviour?” Cora asked.

Emma laughed, “because I’m the product of True Love.”

“You’re the product of True Love?” Cora asked with interest.

“Yeah, back in my timeline I have magic but that’s no good to me here in a land without magic,” Emma muttered as she wiped her nose on her sleeve.

“Have you learnt nothing?” Cora asked in a tone that reminded Emma of Regina, “there are still magical objects here even without magic. The magic bean is magic in its own right, some items will still contain small, trace amounts of magic. Which is why Rumpel collects everything he comes across.”

“Got any other magic beans stashed away?” Emma asked sarcastically.

“No,” Cora admitted as she pursed her lips and thought.

Emma took a few shuddering breaths to keep herself calm as images of Regina kept entering her mind.

“Birthday,” Cora mumbled.

“Hmm,” Emma questioned as Cora jumped to her feet and began to pace.

“You said on your twenty-eighth birthday, Henry found you, he came to you?” Cora asked.

“Yes, well, no, well, he did in my timeline, it was my birthday and he came to my home but in this timeline he doesn’t have his book so he never came,” Emma explained, “he doesn’t know about the curse here.”

Cora continued to pace as she tried to thread all of the pieces together, “there must be something else, more that you’re not telling me, think,” she demanded.

“I’m trying!” Emma shouted.

Cora paused and looked at Emma kindly as she knelt beside her, “I know you are grieving but I don’t know how much time we have and we need to figure this out before Rumpel finds a way to prevent us from communicating, I need you to help me.”

“Okay, okay,” Emma wiped her eyes and started to think, “erm, in the original timeline Henry was given the book. Erm, Mary Margaret found it in the back of a wardrobe. She found it in a wardrobe in this timeline too, except this time she didn’t give it to Henry.”

“Why not? Where is the book now?” Cora asked as she stood up and folded one arm across her chest and held her chin thoughtfully.

“I have it, I, I dunno why she didn’t give it to him, she.. well, in the original timeline Henry wished for answers,” Emma suddenly remember something, “and Rumpelstiltskin told me about the power of a tortured soul. But here, in this timeline, Henry isn’t a tortured soul because he’s happy, well sort of.”

“A wish is a very powerful thing,” Cora told Emma seriously, “in our realm fairy godmother’s control wishes but in a land without magic other factors are at play.”

Emma nodded, “in the original timeline I wished to not be alone on my birthday.”

Cora slowly turned around, “and Henry turned up?”

“Yeah, weird, eh?” Emma shrugged and wondered why Cora was staring at her so strangely.

“What did you wish for this time?” Cora asked carefully.

Emma opened her mouth to speak but then closed it as she thought again, “erm, nothing. I didn’t make a wish. I was expecting Henry to come so I didn’t get a birthday cupcake, I didn’t make a wish.”

Cora laughed, long and loud and uncontrollably and Emma regarded the woman with a frown fearing that she had finally lost the plot.

“Er, Cora?” Emma asked with a frown.

Cora wiped delicately at her eye with her index finger and smiled at Emma, “the wish of a tortured soul, Emma.”

“You’ve lost me,” Emma shook her head.

Cora sighed as if she were dealing with a particularly dense person, “you didn’t make a wish on your birthday, clearly your twenty-eighth birthday wish has some magical significance, it brought Henry to you. You have a wish outstanding. And you are now a tortured soul following..” she drifted off, not wishing to bring up the subject of her daughter’s death.

Emma’s mouth fell open and she stared at Cora, “so.. I just have.. to wish?”

“No,” Cora shook her head, “we’re missing something magical. We need something that contains magic.”

“Back to square one,” Emma sighed as she leaned her head over the well and looked into the darkness.

“Tell me about this book, it seems to hold a lot of relevance,” Cora said.

Emma blew out air between her lips, “it’s a book, full of stories, lots of illustrations which was why Henry could make the connections. Erm, I dunno, it tells the history of everyone when they were back in the Enchanted Forest, it’s.. red.. I dunno, why do you want me to say?”

“Something useful,” Cora snapped back, “my daughter is dead, this is the only way to bring her back now THINK!”

Emma leaned her elbows on the rim of the well and thought about the book, “it’s a story book, everyone is in it, the stories are familiar to me because they are kinda like folklore. Some of them are a bit different but there are similar themes.. oh,” she stood up and turned to face Cora, “it changes. I’m in this one.”

“Explain,” Cora demanded.

“My story, the story about how I changed the timeline, it’s in the book this time around,” Emma said, realising belatedly that was exactly the kind of thing she probably should have started with.

“That’s it,” Cora breathed as she folded her arms and closed her eyes deep in concentration.

“What’s it?” Emma asked urgently, her heart couldn’t take any more and she needed to know what Cora was thinking immediately.

After a moment Cora looked up with a smile, “your wish, combined with the magic that is clearly contained within the book should be enough to send you back.”

“Send me back?” Emma asked in confusion, “what do you mean?”

“You need to find the book, and destroy that page,” Cora told her, “and while you destroy that page you need to wish, and it’s essential that you are clear on this point, you need to wish to be back in your original timeline and to not enter the portal. It’s the simplest way to end all of this.”

“You think that will work?” Emma asked with a frown, “wishing it away?”

“You really don’t understand magic, do you?” Cora regarded Emma with a sad shake of her head, “a wish is a powerful thing, the wish of a tortured soul is even greater. The wish of the Saviour, who is also a tortured soul, retained from the day of her twenty-eight birth which holds relevance is going to be a power thing. The destruction of the story in the book will release enough magic to fix the timeline. Books are power things and this book sounds like it is the most powerful of them all.”

As the information sunk in Emma felt herself believing again, “I can do this.. I can really fix everything.”

“Yes,” Cora said with a sad nod.

“Why are you not happy?” Emma hesitated.

“Because all magic comes with a price and this will certainly be true in this case,” Cora said, “you will have to pay a price once this comes to pass.”

“Will Regina be okay?” Emma asked instantly.

“I think so,” Cora nodded, “but you may not be.”

“I’m doing it,” Emma announced and started to walk away from the well.

“Miss Swan,” Cora called and Emma turned back, “good luck and goodbye.”

“Thank you, I’ll.. you know, I’ll see you in the real timeline,” Emma said with a forced smile.

“I think we both know that’s a lie, Miss Swan,” Cora laced her hands in front of her and regarded Emma with a knowing smile, “I don’t wish to know what came to pass there, just look after my daughter,” she paused and smiled, “and my grandson.”

Emma swallowed and looked up at Cora, standing by the well with her hands clasped in front of her, her regal gown and demeanour betraying any sense of fear she might have and knew that would be the image she would always remember of the woman.

“I will,” Emma nodded sincerely, “I promise you that.”

Cora nodded her head and Emma turned and ran back towards the town. She had no idea what she would come across when she got there but she knew that nothing was going to come between her and the book, no matter how many people she had to get through she would do this, she would make everything okay. 

The exhaustion and muscle pain she had felt had all but gone as adrenaline surged through her body and she ran like her life depended on it, in many ways it did. She made it back to the diner in record quick time, taking the back streets and alleyways to avoid the main street because she didn’t want to see the crime scene or anyone else.

She crept into the bed and breakfast and hid behind a pillar as one of the waitresses walked towards the bathroom. As soon as she was gone Emma rushed up the stairs and opened the door to her room. 

Gold sat on the chair, the chair that Regina had thrown at her to slow her down as the brunette run away and Emma swallowed at the memory and glared at the man.

“Did you think killing Regina would break the curse?” Gold frowned at her, “because, I have news for you.. it didn’t.”

“I didn’t kill Regina!” Emma yelled at him, “get out of here!”

Gold looked at her with fascination, “my, my, what happened to you, dearie? And where have you been?”

She pulled her gun and pointed it at him, “get out now,” she said with a calm she didn’t feel.

“Don’t do anything silly, dearie,” he told her with a glare, “what’s got you this worked up?”

His eyes regarded her in such a way that she wondered if he was able to read her mind and in that second she felt pure hatred for the man. He was the reason she was stuck in this timeline, he has masterminded the whole thing and because of him she had been to hell and back, more than once. She looked at the bed and remembered Regina, smiling at her, on her back and leaning up on her elbows as she smiled lovingly at Emma.

Emma pulled the trigger, twice for good measure, and watched as he fell to the floor with his hand over his chest where she had shot at him. She dropped the gun to the floor in shock and stared at her hand as if wondering who it belonged to. 

She turned towards the papers on the end of the bed and knew that Gold had read them and then look over at the window and the table, the table where Regina had read the damn papers that had sent her running. On the table was the book and Emma dashed over to it and opened it as she flicked through pages to find her story, her hands were shaking so it took a while but eventually she found the page.

“I.. don’t know.. what you think you’re.. going to achieve,” Gold whispered as she pushed himself up to sit with his back against the wall. His hand still against his chest but this time covered in blood.

Emma took the page and held it in both hands at the top edge and closed her eyes as she focused on her wish as she tore down the page. For a few seconds the only sounds that could be heard were her panting breaths and Gold’s rattling breath as life started to leave his body. Then she could hear the sound of people running up the stairs, people were screaming and she realised someone had entered the room and seen Gold’s body. She kept her eyes firmly closed and focused on her wish.

The next thing she knew she was outside, walking back from the docks and a bright white light appeared in front of her. Emma didn’t need to think, she jumped back away from the light and a moment later it flashed as it disappeared. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she looked around, it was dark, she was wearing the clothes she had been wearing just before the first portal opened. She’d done it, she was back in her own timeline, her own Storybrooke. She took a step back to put some more space between her and where the portal had opened.

She heard the screeching tyres and turned just in time to see the car inches from her body and she knew she was about to be struck by the vehicle. As it slammed into her she remembered Cora’s words of magic always coming with a price before there was nothing but blackness.

~*~*~~*~*~

The next time Emma opened her eyes it was bright, very bright. She closed her eyes again and tried to take a deep breath only to realise it hurt. Surely she wouldn’t be feeling pain if she was dead. She opened one eye and looked around to see a hospital room, she was in a hospital bed and the sound of machines beeping filled her ears. She smiled weakly before darkness consumed her again.


	16. Chapter 16

When Emma opened her eyes again she felt like she was coming out of a deep and relaxing sleep as she almost struggled to fully regain consciousness. Her sight was the last sense to come with the heavy sensation of a warm blanket coming first and the sounds of machinery bleeping and the distant whispers of people around her coming soon after. 

By the time she managed to force an eyelid to cooperate and open she was all too aware of being in the hospital and immediately became intensely focused on finding out which hospital she was in. In ascertaining if she had returned to her own timeline or if somehow everything had gone wrong again. 

She tried to sit up and push the blanket back but firm hands started to push against her and she looked to see Mary Margaret’s worried face looking back down at her, she was speaking but Emma couldn’t figure out the words as all she could hear was her own heart rate thundering in her ears. 

Trying again she lifted her arm to push Mary Margaret aside so she could stand but she realised something was holding her back and regarded her arm with confusion until she saw the various tubes and monitors. Deciding that it was irrelevant she returned her attention to Mary Margaret who was now replaced with a concerned looking Ruby. Blinking, Emma realised that there was someone behind her who was also attempting to get her to remain in the bed and turned around to see Victor Whale.

“No,” Emma mumbled and realised that she couldn’t hear her own voice over the sound of her heart beating faster and faster. She shook her head and a ringing in her ears began but she ignored it as she turned back towards Ruby who was now trying to push her back into bed. Mary Margaret and Ruby were talking to each other and looking at Emma in concern.

Emma struggled to piece everything together as she wondered where she was and what was going on and eventually she cried out, “where’s Regina? I want to see her, now!”

“Emma,” Ruby’s kind voice started to pierce the haze and the sound of the heartbeat and Emma noticed a streak of red hair that reminded her of her own Ruby, “you need to rest, you were hit by a car..”

Remembering sound of the car hitting Regina’s body Emma surged forward, “where’s Regina?!”

“She’s delirious,” Whale called out as he attempted to pull her back down but Emma was fighting with everything she had. She had to get to Mifflin Street and see Regina with her own eyes, she had to know that Regina was okay and that this wasn’t all another Rumpelstiltskin trick.

“Get off of me!” Emma cried out, “I want to see Regina,” she swung her arm and managed to clock Whale in the face, “and David, I want to see David! And Henry! Where are they? What have you done with them.. this is a trick, I’m not stupid, I see you Rumpel!!”

Mary Margaret quickly exited the room and Emma fought against the grip Ruby had on her and distantly remembered that Ruby was a werewolf and therefore had superior strength, the knowledge simply spurred Emma on and she began to wildly kick out. As she fought the pair of them she distantly heard Whale say something about stitches and broken ribs and before long she was on her feet and exiting the hospital room, dimly aware of the machinery that she dragged behind her as it was still tethered to her body.

She practically fell into the hallway and looked up to see Regina and Mary Margaret talking, Regina spun around and regarded her with a shocked expression. She was wearing a simple black knee-length dress, a smart grey overcoat, black tights and black heels. Emma stared for a few seconds as she tried to process which Regina this was.

“Regina,” she whispered as she stared at the brunette, her brain was hurting and she could feel all of her energy leaving her but she managed to take a small step forward towards Regina. In the back of her mind she wondered why she was limping and why breathing was so difficult but that took a back seat to the euphoria at seeing Regina alive again.

She distantly heard Whale call out for someone to grab her and lifted her hand to stop him and watched in surprise as both he and Ruby flew backwards in a burst of light that emitted from her hand. With a slow recognition she understood that she had magic but that didn’t stop her from doubting everything, she’d been through too much, seen too much to trust anything anymore. 

“Emma,” Regina’s concerned voice had the blonde turning to regard her, “Emma, you need to go back to bed.”

“Is it really you?” Emma asked as she tried to walk forward but the cables to the hospital machinery were pulled as tight as they would go and she was tethered and unable to move.

Regina and Mary Margaret shared a look and Regina spoke again, “Emma, you need to rest, I think you’ve maybe hit your head or something. Do you remember the crash?”

A crystal clear image of Regina’s body lying in the middle of the road flashed into Emma’s mind and she let out a sob and covered her mouth as she started to fall to her knees, only then recognising that she was wearing a hospital gown.

Mary Margaret raced to her side and helped lower her to the floor, “Emma, honey? You’re frightening me..”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?” Emma whispered, practically to herself before looking up at a concerned Regina who was standing over her, “how do I know if it’s really you?”

Regina crouched down and looked at Emma seriously, “what can I do to prove it to you?”

“I don’t know,” Emma whispered through falling tears, “I don’t know what to do.”

Regina looked up at Mary Margaret and appeared to consider something before looking at Emma and giving her an apologetic smile before raising her hand and gently covering Emma’s eyes and suddenly things went dark.

~*~*~*~*~

The next time Emma opened her eyes she was staring at the ceiling, a distinctly hospital looking ceiling. She blinked a few times as she attempted to remember what had happened and as it all came flashing back she jolted upright in her bed again. Mary Margaret and David were sat next to each other in chairs beside her bed and both jumped and looked at her in concern. On the other side of the room sat Henry and Regina, Regina rising and regarding Emma as if she wondered if she were some kind of threat and prepared to protect Henry if she must.

“Emma?” Mary Margaret asked softly.

Emma stared at David and smiled and he smiled back at her but with uncertainty in his eyes as he stood up and sat on the edge of her bed, “hey, how are you feeling?”

Emma held out her hand to take David’s hand and her eyes floated over to where Henry was looking at her with a smile as he slowly crossed the short distance from his chair to stand beside her bed. He was older now, definitely not the ten-year-old boy from the other timeline, now he was twelve going on fifteen as his growth-spurt had him outgrowing her quickly.

Emma frowned as she recalled being in the hallway and suddenly in the hospital bed again and asked, “what happened? How did I get back here?”

Regina looked away from Emma and began to examine a bouquet of flowers in a vase on the table by the door and Mary Margaret answered, “you were frightening us, honey, we thought you might end up hurting yourself so.. Regina.. well..”

“She totally knocked you out with some magic trick,” Henry grinned.

“Henry!” Mary Margaret and Regina both admonished him.

Regina approached the bed and stood behind Henry, “you were becoming distressed so I sent you back to sleep so you wouldn’t injure yourself.”

Emma licked her dry lips as she remembered her hysteria, “I’m sorry,” she said softly, “I was.. kinda freaking out a bit there.”

“What happened?” Mary Margaret asked as she approached the head of the bed and adjusted Emma’s pillows so she could sit up properly.

“I..” Emma closed her eyes for a second to control her rising panic, “I was somewhere else, I.. I was walking home from the dock and then there was this white light in front of me. The next thing I knew I was in the past, in the Enchanted Forest..”

Regina scoffed a laugh, “again? What horrors have you brought back for me now, pray tell?”

Emma looked at Regina with a hurt expression before looking back to her mother and father, “I saw Belle.. well.. she saw me. It was a mistake but I spoke to her and.. and I changed the timeline. Another portal opened and then I was back at my twenty-eighth birthday, back in Boston. At first I thought I’d only gone back in time so I waited for Henry to show up,” she reached forward and took Henry’s hand and smiled at him.

“But he didn’t come,” Emma looked back to Regina and then to Mary Margaret as looking at Regina was still too painful and reminded her of the awful accident.

“What do you mean?” Henry frowned, “I did, I remember doing it..”

“Yeah,” Emma laughed lightly, “you did now, but in that timeline you didn’t. So I drove to Storybrooke and things were.. different,” she looked at David, “you weren’t there, you died before the curse was enacted.”

Emma looked at Regina, “and it wasn’t your curse, it was Rumpelstiltskin’s.”

Regina looked surprised, “Rumpel’s curse?”

Emma nodded, “yes, you never became the Evil Queen.”

“But, that’s.. that’s good, right?” Henry asked as he looked from Emma to Regina.

“No, Kid, that’s who your mom is,” Emma explained, “without that period in her life she was someone very different.”

“Was I there?” Henry asked.

“Yes,” Emma smiled sadly as she squeezed his hand tightly, “but you didn’t know who I was, you didn’t know about the curse,” with a deep sigh Emma continued, “Gold was there and he wanted me to break the curse, he told me all of this was gone and that I’d ruined the timeline.”

“Gold knew you?” Regina asked.

“Yeah, he had set up an insurance policy in this timeline, if Belle were to ever betray him a portal would open up and take me back in time to make a specific change to the timeline that would mean he would betray Belle first. He would use her heart to cast the curse,” Emma explained as she looked at Regina who seemed to be the only person able to keep up with what she was saying.

“How long were you over there?” Mary Margaret asked, the horrifying truth of where Emma had been trapped finally sinking in.

“I..” Emma couldn’t remember, so much had happened and it was all still so hazy, every time she thought about it she could see Regina’s or Gold’s dead body, “.. a few days.”

“How did you get back?” Regina asked, ever the more practical.

“I had help,” Emma admitted, “I.. I don’t really want to talk about all this now,” she said as she could feel the panic rising up within her again, “it was.. pretty intense.”

Mary Margaret wrapped an arm around Emma and pulled her close to embrace her and Emma happily fell into the hold and closed her eyes as relief that it was all over washed over her. 

Later on Regina left to check the town for any evidence of further portals and Emma reassured Henry that she was fine and he and Mary Margaret went to get Emma a grilled cheese from Granny’s.

“So,” David said with a lopsided grin, “did ya miss me?”

Emma laughed despite the seriousness of the situation, “so much,” she admitted.

He looked at her seriously, “are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, “it’s going to take a while to get over some of the things I saw there.”

“Maybe you should speak to Archie?” David suggested.

“No,” Emma said quickly, “no, I don’t think that would help.”

David looked around the room to check they were alone, “I hear you were pretty desperate to find out if Regina was okay?”

Emma blushed and looked down at her hands in her lap, “yeah, I guess.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” David asked quietly.

The image of Regina’s body filled her mind again and she almost gagged and shook her head in the negative.

“Okay,” David frowned, “but you know you can talk to me, I’m here for you whatever you need.”

“She died,” Emma whispered, making it clear in her tone that that was all she was willing to divulge at that point in time.

David nodded and shuffled forward and pulled her into a comforting hug and Emma held onto him tightly, ignoring the pain in her broken ribs as she did and just seeking comfort. Holding on to her father and clenching her eyes tightly closed to try to take all the pain away, to try to forget.


	17. Chapter 17

Emma lay in bed staring at the ceiling, a different ceiling these days but just as dull. It has been nine days since she had returned to her own timeline, not that she had fully believed it for the first five of those days. Concerned about being played by Rumpelstiltskin she had tested people who came to visit her, little questions about conversations they had previously engaged in, bits of information that she hoped only they would know about.

Mary Margaret and David gamely played along, seemingly understanding her fragile acceptance that she was in the right place and the right time. They gently and considerately answered her questions and provided further evidence to attempt to assure her that all was well. 

Henry was too young to fully understand why Emma was questioning him, to the point where he occasionally became frustrated by it. He couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just be happy to be home but that was mainly because she had yet to fully share her story with him, or with anyone. Even during quiet moments in the middle of the night when David had woken Emma from her distressing dreams that caused her to thrash about she hadn’t spilt the details of her time in the other timeline.

It was guilt that mainly kept her quiet, she had murdered Gold in cold blood. Sure he had goaded her and was completely to blame for everything that had happened to her but the memory of shooting him in the chest still haunted her. It just wasn’t her and she couldn’t reconcile her journey from someone she recognised to becoming crazed enough to take a life, even if it was Gold’s.

Then there was Regina. Regina, whose name she called out in the middle of the night because the nightmares had gotten too much. It was usually around that time that David thankfully woke her and pulled her into his strong arms and held her as she sobbed. But not before she had relived the conversation with Regina where the brunette had found her notes on the fairy tale characters of Storybrooke. Where Regina had run with such fear and panic that she had sped herself in front of a car. It was the noise that Emma could hear constantly, something that she was sure she would never get over, the solid thud of soft flesh on hard metal that came even before the screeching of rubber. The noise that instantly told Emma what had happened, that prevented her from being able to walk for a second as her body froze in fear and a desperation to not believe what she already knew had happened.

She suspected that David had told Mary Margaret about Regina’s demise in the alternative timeline but neither of them had pushed her any further on the details and for that she was grateful. Regina had visited once, under the guise of delivering a meal of a pasta bake that she had once made and brought over soon after Neal was born. Emma had been sure the dish was created by magic as it was so delicious and Henry had embarrassed her by telling Regina the noises Emma had emitted while enjoying the meal. Clearly Regina had recalled Emma’s appreciation and brought another pasta bake, more under the guise of helping Mary Margaret that coming over to see how Emma was doing. 

She had stayed for all of three minutes, glancing distractedly around Emma’s bedroom and in full mayoral mode as she explained to Emma that she didn’t need to worry about returning to work until she was fully recovered. Emma couldn’t blame Regina for feeling awkward about the whole scenario as even she could barely stomach to make eye contact with the brunette. Embarrassment at how she had acted upon first waking as well as not being able to look at Regina without seeing the other Regina made for an awkward visit that had come on her fifth day of recovery. 

A steady stream of worried Storybrooke citizens had visited Emma on her sickbed, she was certain that Mary Margaret and David were setting them up to give Emma further opportunity to assure herself of being in the correct timeline. Admittedly it had helped, on the fourth day Archie Hopper had visited with Pongo. The tweed jacket, umbrella and dog had helped to reassign the man in Emma’s brain, to stop associating him with Leopold’s Sheriff. However she still wasn’t ready to tell him, or anyone, all of the details about what she had experienced. Mainly because she feared that if she did such a thing she wouldn’t be able to keep everything together, she’d experienced loss and trauma before but this particular event had hit her harder than she even knew was possible. 

A light, forced, cough caused her to look up and she saw Regina hesitantly stood by the door to her bedroom, “may I come in?”

Emma gently pushed herself into a sitting position, ignoring the painful cry from her ribcage as she did and attempted to smooth out her unruly hair, “s-sure.”

Regina entered the room and removed her black leather gloves and held them loosely in one hand as she brought her hands together in front of her body and regarded Emma nervously.

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked with a frown.

Regina gave a small smile at that, “Henry is worried about you, he wanted me to come and speak to you.”

Emma closed her eyes at the further embarrassment being heaped upon her when it came to Regina, “I’m fine, just.. dealing with some stuff.”

Regina looked nervously around the room and found a small wooden chair and picked it up and placed it beside the bed and regarded Emma seriously for a while, “it wasn’t just Henry, your parents are worried and they think they have a solution.”

The uneasy feeling in the pit of Emma’s stomach started to rise, “what do you mean?”

“Clearly, you’ve experienced some kind of.. trauma,” she raised her hands gently, “and I’m not suggesting for one moment that you confide anything in me. But, well, your parents have suggested that I give you new memories.”

“New memories?” Emma frowned in confusion.

“Like I did before you spent the year in New York with Henry,” Regina clarified, “they.. want me to replace the memories of your time in the other timeline with other memories.”

Regina paused and let the statement hang in the air for a few minutes while Emma considered what she was saying. Emma stared across the room as she dimly thought about what that would mean, an end to the nightmares that haunted her. The ability to sleep, to get her life back and concentrate on her physical recovery and not worry about her mental one. She began to smile but a second later the smile was gone as she looked at Regina with a questioning tilt of the head, “would.. would that replace all of my memories from there?”

“Yes,” Regina nodded.

Emma shook her head, “then, no, I can’t do it.”

Regina frowned, “but.. David tells me you are unable to get more than a couple of hours sleep before..”

“Thank you for the offer, Regina,” Emma said with a shake of the head, “but there are some things in that timeline that I don’t want to forget.”

“Is this because there were certain.. markers of that timeline being different?” Regina questioned, “are you concerned that without those memories you won’t be able to identify being in the wrong timeline?”

Emma blinked, “well, I wasn’t worried about that until now!”

“Oh,” Regina blushed as she realised her attempt to make things better had possibly made things worse, “I can.. I can attempt to keep some memories, but that would mean you would have to tell me which memories you want to be rid of or which you wish to keep.”

“No,” Emma quickly answered.

Regina sighed angrily, “I don’t understand you, Emma. I’m trying to help you,” she stood up and hurriedly put her gloves back on, “if someone had ever offered to take away my bad memories I couldn’t have accepted quickly enough,” she shook her head ruefully as she turned to leave.

“Regina, wait,” Emma said and attempted to leave the bed but quickly stopped again when the pain in her ribs commanded.

At her pained sigh Regina turned around and regarded her with annoyance and she silently regarded Emma.

“I’m sorry,” Emma sighed as she struggled to explain without saying too much, “it’s just.. private, you know?”

Regina folded her arms and looked down at the wooden floor with pursed lips, “it’s about me isn’t it?”

“Huh?” Emma was too fearful to be eloquent.

“I might not have been the Evil Queen there but I presume I did something terrible to you and that’s why you don’t want my help,” Regina laughed bitterly.

“No, no,” Emma said quickly, “not at all, you.. you didn’t do anything to me.”

Regina looked at Emma for a few moments, “what aren’t you telling us, Emma?”

Emma remained silent and broke eye contact with the brunette.

“Clearly,” Regina started again, “something is bothering you, so much that you’re not sleeping and you’re not eating. Your family are worried about you and the town needs you.”

“I’m fine,” Emma bit out with a stubborn shake of the head as she looked away from Regina angrily.

Regina rolled her eyes and shook her head as she gave up, “fine, have it your way, but if you change your mind then you know where to find me.”

The brunette left the room and Emma listened to the sounds of her heels bashing against the wooden stairs as she went down to the communal kitchen to presumably speak with her parents about Emma’s refusal of her help. She strained to listen but all she could hear was muffled whispers and before long the sound of the front door of the apartment opening and closing again. 

A few moments went by before she heard footfall on the stairs again, lighter this time and she assumed it was Mary Margaret and turned her head to look at the woman who regarded her sadly from the doorway.

“We were only trying to help,” Mary Margaret looked apologetically at Emma.

“I know,” Emma nodded, “I just.. I don’t want to wipe the slate clean and I don’t want Regina poking about in my memories.”

“I know I’m the last person you’d expect to say this but you can trust Regina,” Mary Margaret said with a light chuckle.

Emma grinned and chuckled in return, “I know.. and I do trust her, it’s just.. it’s private stuff, you know?”

“It’s about Regina, isn’t it?” Mary Margaret asked carefully as she walked into the room and sat down on the wooden chair that Regina had placed by the bed.

“Mom,” Emma whined like a child.

“Emma, this had gone on for over a week, we hate seeing you upset like this,” Mary Margaret whispered as she reached out and took Emma’s hand and held it gently, “you can’t keep it all bottled up, it’s too much for you.”

Emma hesitated before looking down at the bedspread and their joined hands and whispered, “everything was different there, you know? It took a while to get used to and to try to fit in.”

Mary Margaret nodded her understanding and remained silent as she comfortingly ran a thumb of Emma’s hand while waiting for Emma to continue.

“You.. were different,” Emma said carefully, “a different life, different upbringing, you..”

“Were spoilt and self-centred,” Mary Margaret nodded knowingly and at Emma’s surprised expression added, “my father doted on me, I can only imagine what a pain in the ass I would have been if I hadn’t lost him at a young age. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my father and I miss him every single day.. but.. I prefer myself now. When I look back I shudder at the way I was.”

Emma licked her dry lips and nodded, grateful that Mary Margaret had spared her necessity to have to say the words herself, “and.. your father..”

Mary Margaret attempted to maintain a neutral face as she looked at Emma and nodded for her to continue.

“In.. in that timeline.. he was still alive and married to Regina. They were Henry’s parents, you were his sister.”

“Oh,” Mary Margaret took a second to take that in before nodding for Emma to continue.

“He..” Emma sighed, “this isn’t easy..”

“It’s okay,” Mary Margaret nodded, “it was another timeline, many things were different..”

“He.. wasn’t.. kind to Regina or Henry,” Emma said carefully, watching Mary Margaret’s expression to detect any change.

Mary Margaret took a deep breath and nodded, “okay.. in, in what way?”

“I don’t know, it..” Emma sighed, “he seemed neglectful, he didn’t care about them, not like he cared for you,” Emma paused and looked at her seriously, “do you see why this is hard for me to talk about it?”

Mary Margaret squeezed Emma’s hand, “I know but.. I’m here for you. You’re my daughter and that’s what’s important to me here and now. I want to help you through this and if I have to hear.. the unkind truth about my father.. or even myself, then so be it.”

“Regina and I flirted, we kissed,” Emma quickly admitted.

Mary Margaret’s eyes grew impossibly wide and her hand tightened painfully over Emma’s, “er, Mom,” Emma winced at the grip.

“Sorry,” Mary Margaret said and quickly let go of Emma’s hand, “you.. you and Regina?”

“Yes,” Emma confirmed quietly.

“You.. well, erm.. are you.. and Regina a.. couple? Here, I mean?” Mary Margaret asked and Emma had to admit she was being a trooper about it as she tried her best to look like the supportive cool mom when her insides were probably churning with shock.

“No, nothing has ever happened here,” Emma said quietly as she looked down at the bedspread again.

“But.. you want it to,” Mary Margaret guessed.

“I don’t know,” Emma admitted, “it all happened so fast, I was only there a few days and.. we connected, you know?”

“I do,” Mary Margaret nodded with a knowing smile, “I had the same with your father.”

“I didn’t know I had those feelings.. you know, for her, but they came on so fast that now I wonder if maybe I always had them. Or if it was just unique to.. that Regina,” Emma sighed, “I’m just so confused about it all.”

Mary Margaret nodded, “well, I can’t say that I’m over the moon about you kissing my step-mother,” she laughed and Emma joined in at the ridiculousness of it all, “but.. I want you to be happy. Whatever that looks like for you.”

Emma reached her arms out and Mary Margaret sat on the edge of the bed and embraced her daughter firmly, “so, what happened?”

Emma wrapped her arms around her mother a little tighter, “she died.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry,” Mary Margaret pulled Emma’s head to her chest and held her as she felt the blonde shake with tears, “what happened? Can you talk about it?”

“A.. car..” Emma sniffed, “she was.. hit by a car.”

Mary Margaret kissed Emma’s hair softly, “were you there?”

“Yes,” Emma’s voice came out so quietly Mary Margaret had to strain to hear her, “she was running away from me.. I.. I’d scared her..”

Emma began to cry and Mary Margaret held her daughter tightly to her and soothed her as the tears fell for the first time since she had returned. The build-up of emotions finally being released.

After the tears began to subside Mary Margaret spoke softly into Emma’s hair, “that must have been terrible and I know it’s not something you’re just going to forget about but you need to remind yourself that it was all in another time, a time that now never happened.”

Emma wiped her eyes on her pyjama sleeve and sat up, “easier said than done.”

“This is why you didn’t want Regina to replace your memories,” Mary Margaret realised, “because you don’t want to forget about.. the.. time you shared with her.”

Emma nodded despondently, “I may not get another chance and I want to remember how happy it made me.”

“Sometimes you have to fight for happiness,” Mary Margaret pointed out.

“Do you believe in free will?” Emma asked with a sniff as she tried to calm her tears and her breathing.

“Oh, yes,” Mary Margaret enthused, “absolutely! I think we make our own luck and our own happiness. Sometimes things may seem bleak and like there is a road already mapped out for us, especially when Rumpelstiltskin has something to do with it,” she rolled her eyes, “but I strongly believe that we make our own choices and determine our own fate.”

“I’d always believed that too,” Emma admitted, “just.. being over there.. it kinda made me forget that,” Emma said as she let out a yawn.

“Do you feel up to getting some sleep?” Mary Margaret asked, “then maybe we can go out and have dinner at Granny’s? If you’re up to it?”

Emma nodded, “I think I’d like that, getting out there again.”

Mary Margaret stood up and helped Emma to lay down and adjusted her covers, “thank you for talking to me,” she whispered to her daughter, “I know it was hard, but I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Emma smiled as she closed her eyes and attempted to get some sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

Another seven days went by and Emma felt her strength returning slowly but surely. Her ribs were healing nicely but were still very painful and caused Emma to have limited range which meant constantly asking for help, something she wasn’t necessarily good at. 

Over those days she managed to get out and walk around Storybrooke a few times and slowly got used to the fact she was back home and everything was as it should be. People would come up and talk to her and ask how she was doing, the majority of people only knew about the car accident and not about the timeline issues. It had been decided to keep that under wraps in case the town population started to panic about the possibility of time portals or began to report odd goings on and blame it on timeline glitches. As much as Emma loved Storybrooke and its people, she was constantly reminded of their simplistic, fairy tale nature.

Over those days the nightmares continued and Emma’s sleep remained bruised and battered as a result, the lack of sleep caused a general listlessness in her and Mary Margaret and David continued to worry. 

Some evenings Emma would confide in Mary Margaret over the details of the other timeline and Mary Margaret would listen without judgement. Emma couldn’t bring herself to discuss the details with David, it was hard enough telling Mary Margaret of her flirtatious encounters with Regina never mind her father who still had a little trouble trusting the woman. But when her nightmares came back to haunt her in the evening David would always be the one to wake her, being the lighter sleeper out of her parents. 

While she confided details of her brief fling with Regina to Mary Margaret she spilled details of the scene of the brunette’s death to David. In the dark of her bedroom in the middle of the night she would weep as she described the sickening sight that had confronted her on that dark and rainy tarmac. In between sobs she would explain how the driver had been going too fast and hadn’t reacted to Regina’s presence and how Emma knew just by looking at the body that Regina was gone and it would be impossible to bring her back. 

Henry had started to spend more nights at Mifflin Street, between baby Neal’s sleeping pattern and Emma’s nightmares the poor boy was like a zombie on the nights he spent at the apartment. Regina had kept her distance and Emma hadn’t seen her at all since she had offered to used magic replace her memories. Henry told her that Regina was splitting her time between running the town as per her mayoral duties and seeking out the author, still determined to have them write her a happy ending.

Emma stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, she had woken up very early that morning with the plan to spend half a day at work as part of her rehabilitation plan. She would remain in the office and work on paperwork and generally get used to remaining awake and upright for a few hours as she slowly built up towards the more physical parts of the job.

She stared at her reflection, her hair was tied up and firmly fixed into a bun and she had applied a little more makeup than she usually would to cover some of the darkness under her eyes. She stared at the tan Sheriff’s shirt she wore and distractedly wondered why it had become so important for her to implement a uniform policy. David hadn’t been happy but he had reluctantly agreed and Mary Margaret was very pleased to see him in his uniform the day before, a little too pleased which resulted in Emma playing loud music that night as she tried to sleep.

She picked up her black tie from the towel rail and threw it around the back of her neck and quickly tied it into a knot and straightened it, lowering and smoothing her collar she looked at her reflection and was happy with the professional woman who looked back at her. She knew that Archie would probably have something to say about the development if he was aware of all of the details but she decided to do what she did best and gloss over it and do what she felt was right.

An hour later she was alone at the station, David had been milling around for a while, attempting to look like he wasn’t watching over her but clearly he was so she sent him off on some errands. After a silent debate that involved a lot of eyebrow raising and shooing of hands he eventually sighed and left her alone.

Emma regarded the mess with a critical eye, it had never bothered her before, a Sheriff’s office wasn’t expected to be neat and tidy. As long as everything could be found quickly and efficiently then that was usually enough. But as Emma looked around she found herself fidgeting just looking at the redundant computers, stacked up archive boxes, old wall calendars and general unnecessary stuff that littered the rooms.

Emma quickly opened the supply cupboard and took out a roll of black garbage sacks and removed one from the roll and opened it up, wincing as the movement caused a little pain to her still-healing ribs. She moved quickly to the notice board and took down the irrelevant notices that had gathered dust for years during the curse, she wondered why she had never taken them down before as she angrily shoved them into the sack.

As she reached up to take another notice down she looked at her wrist and noticed the homemade keepsake she had created from Graham’s shoelaces. It was a bracelet of sorts that she claimed that she wore so she wouldn’t forget him but as weeks and months went by she realised she didn’t need the trinket to remember him and she was just holding onto things. She dropped the bag and untied the bracelet and dropped it into the bag as well, she stared at it for a while and became lost in her own thoughts.

“Am I interrupting?” 

Emma looked up to see Regina looking at her with an amused and curious look.

“Sheriff,” Regina greeted with a grin as she looked at Emma in her new uniform.

“Madam Mayor,” Emma nodded formally as she dropped the bag into a corner, “what can I do for you, Regina?”

“I came to speak to your father but it appears I have missed him,” Regina said as she looked around the offices.

“Yeah, he’ll be back later,” Emma said as she turned around and bent down to pick up an archive box that she knew belonged in the archive room and not on the floor of the office.

Regina rushed towards the blonde and put a firm hand on her shoulder, “what are you doing?”

“Cleaning up,” Emma looked at her with a shrug as if it were obvious, her hands still on either side of the box and ready to lift as soon as Regina stood back and gave her some space.

Regina gently nudged Emma out of the way and picked the archive box up herself, she stood before Emma in a black pantsuit with a dark blue silk shirt underneath her black jacket and holding a dusty archive box and shaking her head to remove the hair from her face.

“Unless I’m very much mistaken you are still suffering from your injuries and you’re certainly not supposed to be lifting heavy boxes, or indeed anything,” Regina said with a huff, “where do you want this?”

“On the table,” Emma pointed at the table next to Regina.

Regina looked at the table with a raised eyebrow and then back to Emma, “where do you really want it?”

“Well it should be in the archive room but..” Emma sighed but stopped as Regina turned on her heel and walked out of the room and towards the archive room in the outer corridor, “what are you doing?”

Regina knelt down primly in front of the door and put the box on the floor and unlocked the door, “putting this away, I know you well enough to know that if I put it anywhere other than its final destination you will move it yourself at a later time.”

Once Regina had opened the door she bent down and picked the box up again and carried it into the room, tilting the box to the side to note the number and placing it on the correct shelf. She brushed down the front of her black suit jacket to rid herself of the dust and looked at Emma who was watching her from the doorway, “you could just use your magic to clear the room,” Regina commented as she checked herself over for any more dust.

“All magic comes with a price,” Emma mumbled.

Regina raised an eyebrow as she looked at Emma, “yes, it does, but you’ve never cared about that before.”

“I do now,” Emma shrugged lightly in a way that announced the subject was closed.

Regina rolled her eyes and brushed past Emma, “I see,” she mumbled as she got to the corridor and Emma winced as she realised how off she was being with the woman. But as she turned and saw Regina hurrying away from her she began to panic, “Regina, wait,” she called out quickly as her mind unhelpfully played back the last sequence of events of Regina’s departure in the alternative timeline.

Before she knew what she was doing Emma was running after the brunette and had grabbed her wrist and spun her around.

“I’m sorry,” Emma breathed anxiously, “I’m sorry,” she repeated as she controlled her breathing.

Regina regarded the blonde with a tilt of the head and looked down at their connected hands with a frown and Emma swiftly broke the contact.

“Emma, what is it?” Regina tried again and attempted to conceal the exasperation in her tone.

Emma took a step back and held up her hands, “sorry, it’s fine, I’m sorry..”

“What did I do?!” Regina cried out with an exasperated and incredulous smile, “what happened over there to cause this reaction?”

“I’m not reacting in..” Emma began but was cut off by Regina’s laugh.

“When you woke up in hospital you were beside yourself trying to assure yourself where I was and what I was doing, you look at me like I’m a ghost, you refuse my help and you won’t tell me what is bothering you when clearly there is something. I know we’re not close but I thought we could talk to each other,” Regina bemoaned, “but clearly I was wrong.”

Emma desperately wanted to say something as Regina stared at her waiting for a reply that never came and when the brunette chuckled bitterly and turned to leave Emma willed herself to say or do something but nothing happened. As she watched Regina leave through the main doors to the building she rushed after her, desperate to watch her and check she was okay.

Throwing the door open she watched as Regina walked towards the car park, “Regina!”

Regina paused and turned around slowly, “yes, Miss Swan?”

Emma sighed, “I.. I’m struggling with some things and.. and I’m in pain and I’m trying to remember things the way they were, you know? But it’s harder than I expected. I’m trying to get back to normal but it’s taking a while, you are not to blame, you are so not to blame, I promise.”

Regina regarded her for a moment before stiffly nodding, “very well.”

“Maybe,” Emma hesitated for a moment, “maybe I can get back to helping you and Henry with Operation Mongoose? That will take my mind off all the other stuff..”

Regina smiled in a way that used to be so rare but one that Emma had gotten used to in the other timeline, “that would be appreciated,” the brunette nodded, “we’re up at the author’s house, come by whenever you’re free.”

“I will,” Emma smiled, relieved that she had been able to smooth things over with Regina.

“Don’t lift anything,” Regina ordered as she turned towards her car.

As Regina pulled out of the parking space Emma gave her a little salute and watched her drive away. In some ways she was looking forward to spending time with Regina but she was also dreading it because she was still having difficulty separating the two Regina’s in her mind. 

“You can’t avoid it forever.”

Emma turned around to see Mary Margaret standing beside her having just watched Regina drive away.

“Actually I think I probably can,” Emma said with a laugh.

“So what’s the plan now,” Mary Margaret asked as she handed Emma a takeaway coffee that she had been on her way to deliver, “you’re going to help her find the author, so she can write herself a happy ending with Robin? Because that’s what she wants, that’s what she thinks her happy ending is.”

“Maybe it is her happy ending,” Emma shrugged as she took a sip of the coffee and walked with Mary Margaret back towards the station.

“Maybe,” Mary Margaret allowed softly, “just be careful, watch out for yourself.”

“I will,” Emma promised and smiled half-heartedly at her mother who put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed gentle.


	19. Chapter 19

Emma allowed a few hours at work to pass before the need to see Regina got too much for her and she finally left the Sheriff’s office. In that time she continued to clean the offices but avoided lifting anything heavy and instead put sticky notes on everything she wanted her father to move when he returned. It wasn’t something she enjoyed doing but she knew that Regina was right and that she had to take it easy, especially when it came to moving heavy items in the office. Cleanliness certainly wasn’t worth putting her recovery back.

She text Henry to ask if he or Regina wanted lunch, she knew it was a cop out and that a real adult would have text or even rung Regina directly rather than going through their son but Emma was feeling pretty far removed from a real adult. Her plan backfired when Henry replied to say that he was no longer at the author’s house as Regina had sent him on an errand at the vault instead. He did comment that his mom hadn’t eaten so she decided to get her a chicken salad from Granny’s while she got herself a grilled cheese, Henry had said he would fend for himself which no doubt meant going to Granny’s to order the greasiest meal on the menu.

At the author’s house Emma quietly made her way through the rooms until she found the library where Regina was working, the brunette had a large stack of books beside her as she meticulously flipped through each one. When she realised she was not alone her head snapped around and she breathed a sigh of relief when Emma held up the takeout bags in a surrendering pose.

“Don’t sneak around like that,” Regina breathed, still recovering from the surprise.

“Sorry,” Emma muttered apologetically, “I didn’t think I was sneaking.”

Regina returned to the book she was examining and Emma considered that their run in that morning hadn’t completely been forgotten yet.

“I brought you a chicken salad and an apple juice,” Emma said as she placed on of the bags on the desk next to Regina. It all seemed quite normal so far, when they worked together they had often bought lunch for one another and Emma was pleased for the familiar nature of it all.

“Thank you,” Regina said distractedly as she finished flicking through a book, closed it and placed it on a pile of other books before opening another.

“Any luck?” Emma asked as she sat down and opened the other takeout bag, she’d already eaten her grilled cheese and was now onto the dessert of a sticky pastry.

“Nothing,” Regina admitted glumly, “I’m beginning to wonder if the author even exists.”

Emma nodded her sympathy, “why don’t you eat something, keep your strength up..”

With a sigh Regina gave a half-hearted nod and set the book she was looking at to one side and opened her takeout bag to reveal a salad and began to snap the lid off of it. One of the first things Emma had noticed when she began to spend more time with Regina was the incredibly volatile blood sugar dips that Regina experienced. Although Regina would never admit to it, her mood was completely controlled by her diet and a missed meal often resulted in terrible mood swings. Once Emma had noticed the pattern she made sure that some form of food was always on hand to keep Regina’s dark moods at bay, Emma had considered that the whole dark curse could have been avoided but for a square of Regina’s favourite white chocolate. 

Regina started to eat and Emma picked at her pastry distractedly as she said, “besides, if the author doesn’t exist it’s not the end of the world.”

With a laugh Regina shook her head, “from the mouth of the Saviour who’s dreadful deeds don’t appear in handily illustrated texts.”

“Maybe not,” Emma agreed, “but there’s no guarantee that the author will change the book, or write you a redemption arc.”

Regina speared a lettuce leaf on her fork and pointed it at Emma, “are you sure you’re a Charming? You’re supposed to be giving a hope speech not depressing me further.”

Emma smiled, “I’m not trying to depress you, I’m just saying that maybe the book isn’t the only hope, you know?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t,” Regina admitted as she forcefully stabbed at a cherry tomato, “how am I supposed to have my happy ending without the author?”

“Make one yourself?” Emma enquired as she smiled at Regina.

“Oh, because that has gone so well in the past!” Regina laughed bitterly, “this author has it in for me and I want to know why,” Regina said as she placed an accusing finger on the top of a book, “and then I want him to write me my happy ending.”

“I’m just saying, what about free will? Surely you can make your own happy ending?” Emma asked gently.

“Free will?” Regina chuckled to herself, “I have never experienced free will, my entire life has been planned and manipulated to other’s bidding.”

“But not now, right?” Emma questioned as she looked at Regina seriously, “now it’s just you, Cora’s gone, Gold’s gone. Now it’s your life to live.”

Regina regarded her for a couple of moments before slowly nodding, “I suppose you’re right.”

“It does happen on rare occasions,” Emma shrugged with a laugh, “I’m just saying that maybe you should spend less time looking for the author and more time writing your own happy ending, you know?”

“Are you telling me to get out there and live my life?” Regina looked at Emma as she raised her eyebrow in surprise.

“Exactly!” Emma laughed happily.

Regina looked at the blonde and smiled for a moment before she took a deep breath and shook her head, “but Robin is gone.”

“Robin?” Emma repeated with a sigh.

“Yes,” Regina clarified with annoyance, “my soulmate.”

“Jesus,” Emma muttered.

“What did you say?” Regina looked at her darkly.

Emma looked up at her and bit her lip for a moment before deciding to risk a fireball to the face, “are you sure that Robin is your soulmate?”

“Of course he is!” Regina laughed heartily at the absurd notion that he might not be.

“Really? I mean, how long were you with him? How well do you really know him?” Emma pushed.

“I don’t see why I should discuss that with you,” Regina replied defensively and Emma could see a crack in the armour.

“Wasn’t long was it?” Emma nodded knowingly, “Regina, look, I don’t want to be cruel I just.. I.. I mean, Robin Hood, really?”

“He’s a good man,” Regina declared as she sat a little straighter in her chair.

“He’s an adulterous thief,” Emma pointed out quietly while staring straight at Regina.

“It’s a difficult situation,” Regina defended, her anger building.

“Do you love him?” Emma asked forcefully.

“Of course I do!” Regina countered with a scoff of laughter that anything else would be preposterous. 

“Really?” Emma pressed, “I mean.. I can’t see what you could possibly love about him, he’s so wrong for you!”

“And you know him so well,” Regina threw her cutlery into the plastic salad container and got to her feet and glared at Emma dangerously, “I love him.”

Emma refused to rise to the bait and stayed seated as she spoke, “you know what I think? I think that you’re infatuated with the only person to show you kindness and treat you like a human being. You’ve been stuck in this town full of people who you despise and they despise you back for the most part and then suddenly someone came along and they didn’t care about your past and you fell in love with that. Not him.”

“How dare you!” Regina slammed her hand down on the table.

“Either that or you’re still cut up about Tink losing her wings because of the whole soulmate shit and you’re doing it because you think it’s the right thing to do and you’re doing it in the hope of redemption,” Emma added quickly as she picked at her pastry.

“I,” Regina’s anger faded into disappointment as she looked at Emma in confusion, “I.. really don’t know what to say to you right now. I thought we were friends.”

“We are friends, that’s why I’m being honest with you,” Emma said softly without making eye contact.

“I think you should leave,” Regina said quietly as she sat back down and pushed the salad to one side and continued to look at the books.

“Tell me why you love him and I’ll go,” Emma looked up at Regina with defiance.

“I will do no such thing,” Regina shook her head and silently glared at the empty pages of the book.

“Fine,” Emma got to her feet, “think about what I said, if you truly believe you love Robin then I’ll even help you to find him. But I think, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll realise that what I said is true and you deserve so much better than him, Regina.”

Regina didn’t look up as Emma left the library and stormed through the author’s house towards the exit. As she walked through the main hallway she looked up and muttered to the empty house, “you’ve got a lot to answer for buddy, your book and you.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night Emma picked over her dinner with disinterest while David and Henry played card games on the sofa. Mary Margaret watched Emma carefully, wondering if it was an appropriate time to try to speak to her daughter.

“Just say it,” Emma whispered to her mother without looking up.

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well?” Mary Margaret asked carefully.

“You could say that,” Emma said and cast a sideways glance to the male population to check they couldn’t hear what she was about to say, “what the fuck does she see in Robin Hood?”

Mary Margaret sighed and shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, he’s charming and handsome..”

“Handsome?” Emma squeaked, “he’s.. well, I’m not going to sit here and insult the man but he isn’t handsome.”

“Regina obviously thinks so,” Mary Margaret pointed out.

“Then Regina needs glasses,” Emma said quietly as she looked back at her plate and absentmindedly chased some food around with her fork.

“Regina hasn’t been lucky in love,” Mary Margaret pointed out, “Daniel, my.. my father, Graham.. Daniel again..”

“Daniel again?” Emma asked with a frown, “when the hell did that happen?”

“Didn’t your father tell you?” Mary Margaret asked with surprise.

“Er, let me think, no,” Emma said sarcastically.

“Doctor Whale.. brought Daniel back, he resurrected him. But he was in pain and, well, he was insane, he attacked Regina and she had to kill him,” Mary Margaret explained.

“What. The. Fuck,” Emma whispered tersely at her mother, “when did that happen?”

“While we were in the Enchanted Forest, there was so much to catch up on when we got back I thought you knew..” Mary Margaret said apologetically.

Emma thought about that for a few moments before shaking her head, “not lucky in love is an understatement.”

Mary Margaret looked up towards David and Henry and leaned closer to Emma as she said, “Regina is frightened, she may not act like it but she is. She is scared of losing something or someone she holds close. The only person she admits to loving is Henry and.. if I’m honest I think that’s probably because she has a legal document saying that he belongs to her. Regina isn’t the kind of person to make the first move, in her eyes that puts her in a position of weakness where there is a chance that she might get hurt.”

“Are you telling me I have to make the first move?” Emma asked quietly as she looked up at her mother.

Mary Margaret shrugged lightly, “I’m telling you not to wait for her to make the first move.”

Emma placed her fork on the plate and blew out a long breath as she stared at the jug of water on the table.

“You have to decide what you want,” Mary Margaret told her, “and then you have to be willing to fight for it. And like everything with Regina, it will be a fight,” she let out a soft laugh.

Emma smiled at the truth of the sentiment.

“I also think she deserves some honesty from you,” Mary Margaret said as she gathered the used dinner plates up, “I think you need to tell her what happened in the other timeline because from what you said earlier she thinks she did something wrong and that’s not a good basis for any kind of friendship going forward.”

Emma sighed loudly, “so what you’re saying is I have to put myself out there because she’s not going to?”

“Pretty much,” Mary Margaret laughed, “and don’t look at me like that, you’re the one who fell for the high maintenance woman.”

Emma poked her tongue out at her mother and helped to clear the plates away before joining in a few rounds of card games with Henry and David but she did all with a preoccupied mind as she debated what to say to Regina and exactly how to go about it. She was still struggling with the basic concept of whether or not she wanted to try to have a relationship with Regina, wondering about the differences between the two Regina’s she had met. Had the journey with Rumpelstiltskin changed the woman too much or was it all, as Emma often suspected, an act to keep people at bay. Then again for Emma to have fallen for the other Regina so quickly there must have been a spark beforehand, something that Emma was concealing even from herself. 

She wasn’t a pros and cons list kind of person but as Emma stared at her reflection while brushing her teeth as she got ready for bed she considered both options. She distantly realised that she wasn’t debating whether or not she wanted to be in a relationship with Regina, she’d already made the decision that that was an obvious and resounding yes. She was debating the pros and cons of bringing it up with Regina, mainly analysing what could go wrong which was an increasingly terrifying prospect.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Emma was brushing her teeth again at five o’clock in the morning having given up entirely on the idea of sleep. A few nightmares were the only indication to her that she had actually gotten any sleep at all and in the dark of the night her bravery had been enforced, lack of sleep and an increase in adrenaline bolstered Emma’s courage. Hardly able to wait for the sun to rise Emma had gotten dressed into her uniform and was quietly getting ready to leave the apartment.

When she stepped out of the bathroom she was shocked to see someone standing in front of her and nearly screamed but at last second realised it was her mother.

“What are you doing?” Emma hissed, not wanting to wake anyone up.

“Wondering what you’re doing!” Mary Margaret counteracted, also somewhat shocked.

“Going out,” Emma said quietly, “I can’t sleep, I’m going to have a walk and then go and see Regina.”

Mary Margaret smiled and held out her arms to hug Emma and Emma rolled her eyes and laughed as she allowed herself to be brought into an embrace, “good luck, honey,” Mary Margaret whispered into her hair.

Half an hour later and Emma was walking around a deserted Storybrooke listening to the birds singing and waiting for the sun to rise up in the sky. It had been a few years since Emma had deliberately sat and watched the sun rise so she headed to the beach to be alone with her thoughts and watch the daily spectacle that so many took for granted.

As she approached the beach she realised she wasn’t the only person to have that idea and considered making a hasty retreat. Regina was sat on an upturned wooden fishing boat that lay on the pebble beach, she was dressed in a lilac v-neck sweater and black trousers and Emma couldn’t pull her eyes away for a few moments at the relaxed look which was so reminiscent of the other Regina.

Emma was about to turn away and leave Regina in peace when she noticed the older woman shudder from the cold and distractedly rub her arms. Mind made up, Emma walked along the noisy pebble beach straight towards Regina.

Regina looked up at the noise and acknowledged Emma with the barest of smiles before turning her attention back to the imminent sunrise. 

Emma wordlessly removed her dark brown leather jacket with sheepskin collar and gently draped it over Regina’s shoulders before sitting beside her on the upturned boat. Regina didn’t remove the jacket and Emma took that as an indication that she really must have been cold.

“Why are you wearing that ridiculous uniform again?” Regina asked as she glanced sideways at Emma.

“I had to wear it in the other timeline,” Emma admitted honestly, “Archie was the Sheriff and I got a job as the Deputy. He insisted we wore the uniform, the office was spotlessly clean and everything was to code. I.. guess I got used to the idea.”

Regina hesitated for a moment as she clearly was not expecting Emma to answer truthfully, “I see,” she nodded as she looked towards the sea again, “Archie Hopper as Sheriff?”

“Yeah,” Emma chuckled.

“Who was the town therapist? Leroy?” Regina laughed.

“There wasn’t one,” Emma told her, “a lot of things were different.”

“And.. now you’re finding it hard to settle back in?” Regina asked carefully.

“Kinda,” Emma confessed, “some things are harder than others. Some things are easier.”

“How so?” Regina frowned as she adjusted the warm jacket around her shoulders.

“David was dead in the other timeline, so was Granny, so being able to see them now is really a relief,” Emma smiled, “I hugged Granny.”

Regina chuckled, “of course you’d miss the person that cooks fifty percent of your meals.”

“Exactly,” Emma laughed, “but the hardest thing to settle back into is.. us.”

Regina turned her head to look at Emma curiously, “explain?”

Emma took a deep breath as she looked at Regina, “you died, because of something I did,” she explained, “we were very close and.. I caused you pain and you ran away from me. You ran.. i-in front of a car and you were killed.”

Regina stared at Emma in surprise, “that’s why you wondered where I was when you woke up? Why you found it difficult to talk to me?”

“Yes,” Emma nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me that?” Regina asked her with some frustration.

“Because if I told you that, I’d have to tell you the rest of it,” Emma confessed.

“And.. now you’re ready to do that?” Regina asked hopefully.

Emma nodded and broke eye contact with Regina and looked ahead at the sun beginning to peak up from the horizon, “when I got to Storybrooke, in the other timeline.. I started noticing things were different and I went to find you. I went to your office but it wasn’t your office anymore, it was Leopold Blanchard’s office.”

Emma didn’t need to look at Regina to know that the woman had stiffened at the mention of her former husband’s name.

“You and he were married,” Emma continued, “you’d adopted Henry but he spoke about the two of you like you were somehow second-class citizens. He wouldn’t stop going on about how wonderful Mary Margaret was.”

Regina scoffed a laugh, “sounds like Leopold.”

“When I did meet you..” Emma paused for a moment, “you were.. different. You didn’t have any of the fire you have now, pardon the pun, you were meek, almost shy. It was a real shock to the system to see you like that. Gold explained to me that it was his curse and that he had stopped your training and that you lost your magic over time, you never became the Evil Queen and you never killed Leopold.”

Emma fidgeted with her hands, “I couldn’t figure him out, Leopold I mean, he seemed so nice, too nice. Everyone loved him but it was only me who could see how he neglected you and Henry. Henry didn’t like him,” Emma told Regina, it seemed important to Emma that Regina knew that, “he loved you but he didn’t like him at all.”

Emma risked a small glance at Regina to see a small, proud smile forming on her face.

“Leopold asked me to spy on you,” Emma admitted, “he said he was worried about your fragile nature and to be honest, so was I. I told you that he’d asked me to follow you around and we.. we became friends. Soon, we became more than friends.”

Emma maintained her focus on the horizon as Regina’s head turned to regard her, “more than friends,” Regina repeated.

“We.. flirted,” Emma admitted, hoping that her voice was sounding somewhat neutral and not as strangled as she imagined, “there was.. some physical.. erm, I mean, well.. we kissed.”

“Kissed?” Regina sounded surprised and Emma waited for the fireball to incinerate her and the wooden boat she sat on.

“Well,” Regina said with a soft tone as she turned back to face the sunrise, “you certainly work fast, you weren’t even there for a week.”

“You were going to leave him,” Emma continued, “you came to see me to tell me that you had made the decision, and you wanted me to go with you.. but I knew you couldn’t leave the town line, you’d already tried once and been injured in a car accident. So I went into the bathroom to give myself time to think and when I got back you had found some notes I’d been making about the curse. You thought I was crazy and you.. you ran from me.”

“And then I died,” Regina completed, being placed in the odd situation of wanting to apologise for the actions of herself in a previous timeline.

“I dream about it every night,” Emma admitted, “I can get it out of my head. I can’t get you out of my head and that’s why I’ve been acting strangely.”

“Well,” Regina said gently, “it sounds like you went through a lot in your time over there.”

“Yeah,” Emma said, knowing that Regina had yet to grasp the essential points of what Emma was trying to tell her, “but the reason I didn’t want you to replace my memories was because, despite the terrible things that I saw.. I also saw good and.. I didn’t want to replace the memories that made me realise that I have feelings for you.”

“For me?!” Regina looked at Emma in surprise, “of course you mean the other me?”

“No, I mean you,” Emma clarified resolutely, “you’re right when you say I wasn’t even there for a week, I fell for the other you hard and fast and the only reason that happened was because I already had feelings for you, even if I didn’t quite realise it at the time.. I do now.”

The silence only lasted a couple of seconds but to Emma it felt like days were passing as she slowly looked at Regina who was staring at her in astonishment.

“You..” Regina paused, words lost on her.

“Have feelings for you, yes,” Emma completed, Regina’s non-violent reaction bolstering her courage further.

“Why?” Regina asked with thorough confusion.

Emma laughed, “erm, I’m not sure what you want me to say, Regina, because you’re the most deeply loving person I know, because you’re funny and smart and you make me happy. You’re the best mother to my son I could ever have wished for him to be placed with.”

“I’m the Evil Queen, I murdered entire villages,” Regina whispered as if she felt Emma had some kind of head trauma and needed reminding of the fact.

“Well, I’m not saying there aren’t bad sides to your personality,” Emma shrugged and looked back to the sunrise.

“Bad.. sides..” Regina spluttered.

“You’re missing the sunrise,” Emma commented as she looked at the beauty of the sun rising over the sea.

“I cursed your whole family, you were dumped by the side of the road at one day old because of me,” Regina told her.

“I got over it,” Emma shrugged.

“Got over it?!” Regina jumped to her feet, “I tried to kill your parents, many times!”

“Yeah, but you kinda failed,” Emma stage-whispered, “you know what though?”

“What?” Regina looked at her with confusion.

“All I’m hearing right now is a list of reasons why I shouldn’t have feelings for you, I’m not hearing any denials about your feelings for me,” Emma pointed out.

Regina balked for a moment before crying out, “this is absurd!”

“Is it?” Emma asked with a confused look, “are we really just limited by popular opinion or by the book? Don’t we get a say? Why can’t two women be together? Why can’t they be the Saviour and the Evil Queen? Why can’t it just be about feelings?”

Regina sat back on the boat and took Emma’s hand ever so gently and looked at her seriously, “Emma, you’ve been through a lot, the timeline, the car accident and I know you’re on pain medication because of your fractured ribs..”

Emma laughed heartily, “oh my God, you think I’m delusional,” she said in surprise, “you know, Regina, I thought about this long and hard and I thought of a lot of things that might happen when I told you about how I feel about you but I never thought you’d think I was high on pain medication.”

“But..” Regina started and looked down to where Emma was soothingly rubbing her thumb over Regina’s hand.

“So, now you know how I feel,” Emma announced, “and I know it’s a lot to take in so I’m going to leave you to your sunrise and I’ll come and see you later today and we can talk then.”

Emma leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to Regina’s cheek, using all of her strength to just leave it there and not overwhelm the woman. She stood up and allowed Regina’s hand to slide back into her own lap and smiled at her and turned to walk away.

When she was a few meters away Regina called out to her and Emma turned around to see the brunette standing looking at her, “your jacket,” Regina said indicating the jacket over her shoulders.

Emma smiled, “I’ll pick it up when I see you later,” and turned and walked away thoroughly pleased with how it had gone.


	20. Chapter 20

It was eleven o’clock and Emma’s stomach growled for sustenance following her ridiculously early start that morning but she was stuck refereeing an argument between Leroy and an electrician named Theo. Following a call about fighting in the street outside the school Emma had turned up to find both men comically wrestling in the street so she dragged them back to the station to see if she could resolve the problem. It turned out to have something to do with electrical cabling at the school and whether or not it was within Leroy’s remit as a town employee or Theo’s as a private contractor. The debate had gone on for twenty minutes with Emma trying to come to an amicable agreement and not being able to find a middle ground that could be agreed upon. 

The sound of high heels clicking down the hallway caused Emma to turn around and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of Regina entering the office. The brunette wore a tight royal blue dress which covered her knees but left nothing to the imagination, her hair and makeup were both absolute perfection and Emma found herself staring for a moment.

“What seems to be the problem?” Regina addressed the two men and folded her arms across her chest as she walked further into the room.

It was then that Emma saw the back of the dress and admired Regina’s partially naked back which soon gave way to a gold zip that ran the length of the dress. Two straps of black material hung down from beneath her hair where the neckline of the dress was hidden from sight.

Emma shook her head and realised that Theo and Leroy were explaining the situation to the brunette and Emma had missed every word of it and could just nod in the hope that she didn’t look like she was mentally undressing Regina, which of course she was.

“Well, that’s ridiculous,” Regina sighed, “any cabling that runs to the city grid is clearly town property and anything within the building is obviously for private contract work. If neither of you has the intelligence to work out that basic fact then maybe we should find someone else who can take over all electrical work within Storybrooke and not divide the labour in a fair and mutually acceptable, not to mention profitable, way.”

Both Leroy and Theo stared at each other for a moment while they came to terms with this fact, “so,” Regina continued, “I think you’ve wasted enough of Sheriff Swan’s time with this bickering, leave. Now.”

The tone allowed for no arguments and the electricians left the office quickly and quietly, nodding their apologies to the Mayor and the Sheriff as they left.

“Thanks,” Emma said once they were alone, still appreciating Regina’s change of outfit.

Regina looked at Emma’s eye line and smirked, “see something you like, Sheriff?”

“Yes,” Emma admitted, “just like you planned.”

Regina attempted to look innocent and Emma laughed, “oh come on, Regina, you clearly wore that and came in here to get a reaction out of me. This is the reaction, you look amazing, well, you always look amazing but.. like, extra amazing.”

Regina seemed pleased with herself but she rolled her eyes nonetheless, “extra amazing, really? Did my other self really fall for such dreadful lines?”

“Absolutely,” Emma joked, “couldn’t get enough of me, especially my cheesy chat up lines.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t say anything until I’ve experienced it,” Regina said, “would you like to come to dinner this evening at the house?”

“Sure,” Emma smiled and nodded happily.

“Good,” Regina said formally, “shall we say six?”

“Sounds great, should I bring anything?” Emma asked.

“Just yourself,” Regina said as she turned to leave but paused and looked Emma up and down for a moment, “and don’t worry about changing.”

Emma laughed and Regina raised an eyebrow curiously so Emma explained, “your.. other self.. she had a thing for the uniform. Especially the tie.”

“I don’t have a thing for the uniform,” Regina sniffed, “however, I’m happy for anything that saves me from the horror that is one of your leather jackets.”

“Like the one you were happy to borrow this morning?” Emma asked with a smile, “which you appear to still have.”

“You can pick it up this evening,” Regina said distractedly, “I don’t have time to stand around and chat all day, good day, Sheriff.”

Emma happily watched Regina leave and silently hoped that the brunette would wear the same outfit that evening before breathing out a sigh of relief that she had been holding in all morning. She had intended to give Regina some time to think and to speak with her in the afternoon but the fact that Regina had come to her was positive because it meant not only was Regina interested in exploring things further it also meant that she was trying to take the lead. While Emma was happy to take the first step she was concerned that Regina would hold back and it would turn into an unwelcome uphill struggle for Emma to prove her feelings for the brunette as well as convince the brunette of her own feelings. Now it seemed clear that Regina wished to explore the dynamic in her own right.

“Oh my God, how did it go?” Mary Margaret rushed in with Neal in his pushchair, “I just saw Regina, is everything okay? She was smiling but you can never tell if that’s good or bad..”

Emma held up her hands to calm her mother, “seriously, do you have anything going on in your own life?”

“I take my baby to rhyme time three times a week, I’m starved for adult engagement that doesn’t involve a conversation about breast feeding,” Mary Margaret announced with a roll of her eyes.

“Okay, firstly, eww,” Emma shuddered, “and secondly.. it went well,” she smiled and blushed, “we’re having dinner tonight.”

“That’s great news,” Mary Margaret smiled, “what are you going to tell Henry?”

“Erm,” Emma paused, “I.. don’t know. We didn’t discuss it.”

Mary Margaret shrugged, “well, it’s early yet, he’s at our place tonight anyway so I’ll just tell him you’re having dinner at Regina’s. He won’t think anything of it.”

“But what do we tell him long term?” Emma asked, “I mean.. if things work out? I know I’m getting ahead of myself before I’ve even had one date with her but..”

“Emma,” Mary Margaret said firmly, “calm down, don’t worry about problems before they become problems.”

“You’re right,” Emma nodded and then another thought hit her, “what about David?”

“He knows,” Mary Margaret laughed.

“What?” Emma looked surprised, “you told him?”

“No, he guessed,” Mary Margaret adjusted Neal’s blankets, “the nightmares.”

“Oh,” Emma nodded, “and.. he’s okay with it?”

“Well, neither of us would have planned it this way,” Mary Margaret chuckled, “but our priority is your happiness and we both agree that Regina can make you happy. And that makes us happy.”

“You two are pretty awesome, you know that, right?” Emma smiled.

Mary Margaret looked up at her daughter with a cheeky grin, “yeah, we know.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

The rest of the day seemed to drag on and Emma found herself sitting in the Bug just up from Regina’s house forty minutes before she was due to arrive for dinner. She hadn’t meant to leave so early but she was so paranoid about being late that she had ended up being far too early. Henry’s questions about why she was having dinner and why she was wearing her uniform had become too much and she’d kissed his hair and quickly left the apartment.

She’d driven around Storybrooke for a little while to kill some time but the size of the town and the lack of fuel in the Bug had quickly exhausted that option and she ended up parked up outside 92 Mifflin Street. 

Nerves had been building all day as Emma had the sudden realisation that Regina had invited her to dinner but had neither confirmed nor denied the context of that dinner. The casual flirting and light attitude had Emma believing it to be a date but hours of cross-examining the encounter had revealed no absolutes and then came the doubts, gently chipping away at Emma’s confidence. 

A text message shook her from her thoughts and she saw she had a message from Regina. Emma’s immediate first thought was that Regina had seen sense and was cancelling dinner, realising that Emma had mistaken it to be a date.

‘Why don’t you come in before Mister Hendrick reports you for loitering outside his home?’

Emma lowered her head to rest on the steering wheel with embarrassment before putting her phone back in her pocket and starting the engine and driving the short distance up the road to Regina’s house. She noticed the front door was open and Regina was standing in the doorway, still in the blue dress, with her arms folded and a smirk on her face.

As Emma walked up the path she muttered, “don’t say anything,” in Regina’s direction.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Regina chuckled as she opened the door further and allowed Emma into the hallway, “I’m also running a little early, do you want to come through to the kitchen?”

Regina had already closed the door and had started walking towards the kitchen so Emma fell into step behind her.

“I’m making burgers,” Regina commented as they entered kitchen, “I hope that is okay?”

Emma’s eyes lit up at the prospect, “yeah, that’s.. that’s great!”

Regina smiled, seemingly pleased at Emma’s reaction, “I’m not sure what the social norm is for burgers so I have wine and beer, both non-alcoholic of course as I assume you’re still on your pain medication.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Emma told her in surprise, “I’m good with water, or juice.”

“Well,” Regina’s bravado seemed to slip momentarily, “of course you can have water or juice if you prefer.. I just wanted to provide you with another option.”

Emma knew that her surprise was about to be taken as a social faux pa by the proud woman and quickly replied, “wine, I’d love to have some wine, thank you, it’s very thoughtful of you.”

The smile returned to Regina’s face as she asked, “red or white?”

“Erm, white,” Emma said and smiled as soon as Regina’s back was turned at Regina’s professional hosting skills that were on display, “you didn’t have to go to all this trouble, though.”

“No trouble,” Regina asserted as she opened the fridge and produced two bottles of white wine before noticing Emma’s raised eyebrow at the knowledge that the brunette had clearly bought a selection. She replaced one bottle and placed the other on the kitchen worktop and reached for two high stem wine glasses, “I wasn’t entirely sure how you take your burger,” Regina said as she picked up a corkscrew and began to uncork the wine.

“I have American cheese, smoked Gouda, Danish blue, Cheddar or Gruyère,” Regina explained, “for toppings I have mixed leaves, red onions, pickles, roasted peppers, crispy onion strings, homemade Guacamole, deep fried onion rings and smoked bacon.”

Emma stared open-mouthed at Regina’s back as the brunette continued, “I wasn’t sure on which style of bun you prefer so I made some brioche style, ciabattas and multigrain buns. Obviously I made some fries as I know you like them but I didn’t know your preference so I went with both chunky and skinny. For sides there’s vegetable skewers, side salad and coleslaw.”

Regina turned around with a glass of wine and held it out towards Emma but paused when she saw the shocked expression Emma wore, “did I forget something?”

“Not if you’re planning to open a high-end burger restaurant,” Emma chuckled and took the wine glass, “I know legends of my appetite are spoken of but there’s no way I’ll be able to eat all of this food.”

Regina shrugged as she turned around, “well, of course you should eat what you wish.”

It had rapidly become abundantly clear to Emma that Regina did indeed consider this to be a date and was doing all she could to make it perfect but now Emma was concerned that Regina had worked herself into such a state that she was liable to crack at any moment.

“This really is amazing, Regina,” Emma said as she lowered her glass to the kitchen counter and walked to stand behind Regina and took the bottle of wine from her hand and gently turned the brunette around and held Regina facing towards her.

Dark brown eyes flicked nervously over Emma’s face, “just don’t spend too much time slaving over the oven, I want to spend time with you as well as enjoying the no doubt delicious meal,” Emma said before letting go of Regina and giving her a comforting smile.

After that everything seemed much lighter for the both of them, Regina prepared the meal though with only a third of the initially mentioned ingredients and options at Emma’s request and Emma shared with Regina some of the more humorous stories about the other timeline. 

Later they sat at the dinner table, Regina with a plain burger sat on the bottom of a multigrain bun with a vegetable skewer and an enormous amount of salad and a glass of non-alcoholic white wine in a show of solidarity. 

Emma didn’t want to be rude so she had two burgers, glued together with American cheese and topped with smoked Gouda, covered in onion rings, bacon, a single lettuce leaf solely because she felt obligated and with a mismatching ciabatta bottom and brioche top. On the side she managed to balance both skinny and chunky fries as well as a large dollop of coleslaw, supposedly for dipping.

An unspoken agreement to keep conversation light had meant that Emma spoke endlessly about funny foster parents, ridiculous jobs she had worked as well as annoying roommates she had endured. An early lull in conversation had gotten the cogs turning in Emma’s brain and made her come to the sudden realisation that Regina probably didn’t have any funny stories to bring to the table. From a childhood with Cora to a marriage to Leopold to becoming the Evil Queen and then to living in a bubble of time for twenty-eight years had left Regina clearly struggling with conversational topics worthy of dates. 

So Emma spoke at length, not allowing another awkward silence to crop up and she held her ribs as she laughed and was proud to note that Regina laughed and chipped in where she could, seemingly more at ease than Emma could ever remember seeing her. 

Despite eating too much Emma happily accepted desert of cherry pie and vanilla ice cream, alternatives of flavours as well as cream, both whipped and pouring, provided by an anxious Regina. A nearly awkward moment where Regina explained how she had almost made an apple pie but thought better of it was avoided by Emma casually saying she loved apple pie and smiling as she ate the cherry pie.

Emma considered that she had moved house with less planning than she had put into the dinner as she casually looked at the clock on the wall and worked out the optimum time to depart. Wanting everything to go perfectly to plan she judged exactly when would be the right moment, avoiding leaving too soon or attempting to drag an evening on beyond its natural close. If she wanted Regina to have an enjoyable night and consider the possibility of seeing Emma again then she was going to go all out.

So, with a little disappointment, but knowing it was for the best, Emma announced that it was time to leave and made her way towards the hallway. Once there Regina opened the closet and removed the leather jacket she had borrowed earlier from a hanger and handed it to Emma.

“Sure you don’t need it?” Emma smiled, “it gets chilly down by the beach in the morning..”

Regina upturned her palm and produced a small fireball, “I’ll manage,” she grinned, “besides, you’ll need it if you join me again,” she said as she closed her hand and the fire vanished.

“I’d like that,” Emma admitted, “when are you next heading down there?”

Regina hesitated as if not thinking that Emma would accept, “not tomorrow but the following morning?”

“I’ll be there,” Emma promised as she reached for the door handle and opened the door, “thank you again for a great evening,” she said as she stepped forward and quickly and chastely kissed Regina on the cheek before exiting the house.

She walked down the path without looking back, not wanting Regina to see her overly smug face at achieving what she had thought a few hours ago would be impossible, a nice dinner, a promise of a follow up date and a goodnight kiss.

Getting to the Bug she composed her face into something that she hoped resembled a normal smile and looked up to see Regina waiting in the doorway, Emma smiled at her and was happy when Regina smiled back. She climbed into the car and quickly drove back to the apartment and tried to wipe the reappearing smug smile off of her face before she got there.


	21. Chapter 21

The next day Emma was still smiling from her successful date with Regina and, admittedly, still in awe of the best burger she had ever eaten in her life and that included some stiff competition. She knew Regina could cook but she didn’t for one second imagine that she’d stoop to cook a burger in her perfect kitchen but then she didn’t think that Regina would buy every type of non-alcoholic beer and wine either. It was the little things, the details that Regina clearly hoped Emma wouldn’t notice, that made Emma’s smile continue on for so many hours after the meal. Despite the sometimes cold exterior Regina was caring, thoughtful, she wasn’t simply trying to be the perfect host, it went further than that.

That night Emma was pleased that she returned home in the middle of a movie which had Henry asleep and her parents occupied, she quickly excused herself for an early night as she was exhausted from her early morning and the emotional rollercoaster of a day. Quickly asleep she found her dreams and nightmares intertwined in a way they hadn’t done before, she managed to sleep through for the most part and didn’t wake up in terror. As soon as the dreams began to get too much something shifted and before she knew it she was in another scene in her mind, somewhere lighter, happier. 

She was fully aware that it was going to take more than one night of reasonable rest to stop the exhaustion she had been feeling but she felt so improved she decided to do something that she had been considering for a while. At lunchtime she turned up at Regina’s office unannounced and asked the brunette if she could spare a couple of hours.

Regina raised her eyebrow at Emma’s question and Emma shook her head, “no, I mean.. I want to show you something..”

A smile developed on Regina’s face and her eyebrow remained raised as she looked at Emma who was now blushing brightly as she took a deep breath, “what I mean to say is this, can you take a couple of hours out this afternoon because I want to talk to you about how I got back home.”

Regina’s face settled into a neutral pose, a couple of times over dinner she had asked Emma how she managed to repair the timeline but both times Emma had evaded the subject, not ready to discuss it further.

Regina nodded, “absolutely,” she tidied a few bits of paper on her desk and stood up, dressed in a simple blue work blouse and black trousers, “allow me to buy you lunch first?”

Emma smiled as Regina put her suit jacket on, “you cooked last night, I’ll buy lunch.”

Regina looked like she was going to argue for a moment but instead shrugged her shoulders and asked, “Granny’s?”

A few minutes later they were sat facing each other in a booth at the diner studying the menu even though they both knew what they wanted, both secretly trying to drag the process out a little.

“I had a chicken salad here in the other timeline,” Emma said conversationally.

Regina lowered her menu and looked at Emma seriously, “I know things were bad over there but I didn’t realise your primary eatery had been turned into a healthy eating restaurant, no wonder you were so keen to return.”

“I did it to impress you,” Emma continued without looking up at Regina.

“Did it work?” Regina asked as she lowered her menu.

“I think so, although you left before my meal came and I had to eat it alone,” Emma said with a chuckle.

“Why did I leave?” Regina queried.

“I asked you if we were flirting,” Emma admitted, “I think it freaked you out a bit.”

“You asked me if we were flirting?” Regina smiled, “clearly our flirting skills were not up to much.”

“More like I didn’t want to get my hopes up by misunderstanding,” Emma licked her lips nervously and lowered her menu as a waitress came to take their order, Emma opted for a turkey club sandwich and Regina ordered a chicken salad that caused Emma to roll her eyes.

The order was taken and the menu’s removed and they both looked around the diner to find a distraction until Regina finally sighed, “you were right.”

Emma looked at Regina with confusion, “about?”

“Robin,” Regina breathed and looked out of the window, “I loved the idea of being loved, or being in love, I didn’t love him. I didn’t see that until recently.”

“Oh,” Emma tried to fight the smile that spread over her face but failed miserably.

“You don’t have to seem so happy about it,” Regina rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said and tried again to smother the smile.

“Henry didn’t like him,” Regina commented, “he admitted it to me the other day when we were looking for the author, he said he wasn’t good enough for me which at the time made me laugh.”

“And now?” Emma asked, holding her breath hopefully.

“And now I’m reconsidering things I thought I knew,” Regina said as she looked up at Emma, “I had a wonderful time last night, I’ve never experienced an evening like it.”

Emma beamed happily, “when you get over all the wanting to kill each other stuff we’re actually quite good together.”

Regina chuckled, “so, where are you taking me?”

Emma swallowed, “can we.. we just have a nice lunch and then talk about that there?”

Regina nodded but frowned, “you’re worried,” she commented simply, “that makes me worry.”

“Hold on,” Emma said and quickly stood up and approached the serving counter and spoke with Granny. After a few moments the older woman nodded and disappeared into the kitchen and Emma came and sat back down, “they are going to make our order to go, if that’s okay?”

Regina nodded and regarded Emma curiously, “I’m really not going to like this, am I?”

“I don’t know,” Emma admitted, “which is why I want to tell you now rather than later down the line.”

Granny came over with two large takeout bags, “here you go,” she smiled at them and both women thanked her and headed outside and crossed the road to where Emma’s Bug was parked. 

Once they were in the car and driving Emma started to speak, “when I was over there I knew I’d need magic to get back but it was Storybrooke before the curse so there wasn’t much around. I went up to see the fairies, I mean the nuns, but they were no use.”

Regina snorted a small laugh, no matter how well she was getting on with other people in Storybrooke there would seemingly never be peace between Regina and Blue. 

“So I went to the mines, see if there was any fairy dust, but that was sealed up,” Emma continued, “I was going to try your vault but.. well, I didn’t get a chance to see if it was there in the end.. so the last place I tried was..”

“.. the well,” Regina correctly guessed.

“Yeah,” Emma said as they pulled up by the woods, “ready for a walk?”

Regina rolled her eyes and waved her hand in the air and a cloud of purple encompassed them and a moment later they were standing in the clearing by the well, “not in these shoes,” Regina commented as she folded her arms and looked around.

Emma stared at the well silently for a few seconds as the memories flooded back. The conversations with Cora, the backstabbing and misdirection, the surge of hope at news of the bean and, most of all, the feeling of despair when Regina had died.

“Emma?” Regina asked as she looked at the blonde who was staring intensely at the ground.

Emma’s eyes flicked up to look at Regina and then to look at the tree behind where she stood, “tell me something,” Emma said as she pointed at the tree and walked towards it, “when Mary Margaret and I came back through the well from the Enchanted Forest.. you.. you were leaning against this tree..”

Emma stopped at the tree and turned to regard Regina.

“What of it?” Regina asked with a frown.

“You don’t lean against trees,” Emma looked at her, “at the time I thought.. I don’t know what I thought.. Henry said you’d saved us but I didn’t really know what it meant. But it wasn’t until.. until months later that I thought about it again and I realised.. I never asked what happened. I never checked if you were okay.”

Regina shrugged, “well, as you can see, I’m fine.”

“But you weren’t,” Emma pressed, “what happened?”

Regina bit her lip for a moment before Emma saw her stiffen as she said, “Gold and I were concerned about my mother coming through the portal, we sealed it with.. with a powerful spell.”

“And?” Emma folded her arms.

“And,” Regina sighed, “Henry convinced me that it wouldn’t be my mother coming through the portal, it would be you and Snow.. so I removed the spell.”

“You’re not telling me something,” Emma said as she worried her lip.

Regina sighed and turned around to pace the clearing, “it was a particularly nasty spell.. nobody should have been able to survive it.”

“But you removed it,” Emma said, her eyes becoming wide with realisation, “you nearly sacrificed yourself.. for.. for us.”

“For you,” Regina amended, “I wouldn’t have done so for Snow no matter how much Henry begged me, not then. Did you really drag me out here because a tree made you remember something?”

Emma could tell that Regina was becoming annoyed with the conversation and she had to quickly turn it around and explain why it had been important to Emma to bring up again.

“No, there is another reason we’re here,” Emma admitted, “but seeing the tree triggered a memory in me and it made me feel so guilty.”

“Guilty?” Regina looked at Emma in astonishment, “why?”

“Because I climbed out of that well and hugged Henry and I knew something was up with you, I knew you were in pain, I could see it in your eyes but I was too consumed with my own stuff. I remember that night, we all went to dinner, we left you with Gold and we all went to Granny’s and celebrated being back. I didn’t see you for six days after that, I remember because it was the day I went to a town hall meeting that I saw you in town.”

“Emma, don’t,” Regina said softly as she looked away.

“You were sick, weren’t you?” Emma asked, looking for all the world like she couldn’t decide whether she desperately needed to know or desperately didn’t want to know the answer.

Regina took a deep breath before releasing it slowly and nodded, “I survived,” she said simply.

Emma nodded, knowing that she wasn’t about to get any more out of Regina on the subject, “thank you doesn’t seem to cover it,” Emma admitted, “neither does I’m sorry, but I am.. I am truly sorry that we left you alone after that.”

Regina regarded Emma with a curious, sad smile and nodded her acceptance of the apology and acknowledgement and knew in her heart that it would go some way towards repairing old wounds caused during that day.

Emma took a deep breath, “when I got to the well, in the other timeline, there was someone in the well,” Emma approached the well and looked down, “the reason I wanted to come here was to tell you about the person in the well and to kinda check they aren’t here now.”

“Who was it?” Regina asked as she approached the well with interest.

Emma turned to look at Regina, “your mother.”

Regina stopped on the step up to the well and stared at Emma with something creeping close to horror, “my mother?”

Emma nodded, “without her I never would have got back here, she helped me, she kept me sane and she made me pull myself together.”

Regina looked at Emma in surprise, “we’re still talking about my mother, right?”

Emma laughed softly, “yes, I was as surprised as you but like I said.. people were different in that timeline, different experiences. In that timeline Rumpelstiltskin had banished her to another realm and she was trying to get back to kill him.”

“And now we’re sounding like my mother again,” Regina agreed as she took a step towards the well and cautiously peered over the edge into the murky darkness.

“At first she led me towards a bean she had hidden in one of her spell books,” Emma explained.

“To go back to the point where you made the original change and stop yourself from making it,” Regina nodded, “but that didn’t work?”

Emma shook her head, “Rumpelstiltskin was one step ahead, he prevented me from doing anything,” she took a deep breath, “that.. was almost more than I could take. I thought I’d ruined everything, again. It wasn’t until later that I realised the pain I felt then was absolutely nothing compared to.. well..”

Regina looked at Emma with compassion, “what happened next?”

“You died,” Emma said as she looked down at the well, “and I lost it.. like I never thought I’d be able to stop crying, lost it.”

“Emma,” Regina quickly stood beside her and grabbed her hand softly.

“I ran away, I didn’t stay for the ambulance because.. well.. you were gone,” Emma said as a few tears fell down her cheeks, “you were messed up, you know?”

“I understand,” Regina nodded and squeezed Emma’s hand supportively.

“So I ran, I couldn’t get the image out of my head and I felt so fucking guilty, eventually I knew I had to come here, I had to tell Cora that I’d not only failed but I was also responsible for killing her daughter.” 

“You weren’t responsible,” Regina told her firmly, “these things happen..”

“You ran from me,” Emma told her firmly.

Regina pulled Emma away from the well and held her by her upper arms facing her, “I’m right here, I’m not running, I’m not dead. I’m alive and I’m here with you. The other me is just that, another person.”

Emma closed her eyes briefly and nodded, “you’re right, I know you’re right. It’s just hard to.. sort it all out in my head.”

Regina squeezed Emma’s arms softly before letting go, “I’m sure it will be like that for a while yet,” Regina looked back to the well, “but you still haven’t explained how you got home.”

Emma laughed as she leaned on the well, “would you believe a birthday wish?”

Regina looked at her in disbelief, “a birthday wish?”

“Yup,” Emma nodded, “your mom worked out that I hadn’t used my birthday wish yet, the first time around I wished..”

“.. to not be alone on your birthday, I remember,” Regina completed.

Emma smiled at her, moved that Regina had in some way remembered that detail, “exactly, but because I thought Henry was going to turn up I didn’t wish anything. And then Gold had told me about the wish of a tortured soul,” Emma continued and trailed off at Regina’s nodding.

“Coupled with the fact that the curse already had a proviso about your twenty-eight birthday being significant,” Regina followed the trail of thought.

“So, Cora said I needed something that contained magic and I told her about Henry’s book and how it had changed and how there was a page where I was in it,” Emma continued.

Regina laughed, “how the Saviour travelled through time and ruined everything, again?”

Emma rolled her eyes, “no, it was a little more catchy than that but yeah, the same sentiment.”

“The book contains magic,” Regina thought about it, “so mother suggested destroying that page while casting your wish?”

“Yeah,” Emma said, “she warned me that all magic comes with a price,” Emma held her healing ribs and winced.

“Magic does have a warped sense of humour,” Regina nodded, “my death by a car followed by your own altercation with a vehicle.”

“Yeah, hilarious,” Emma deadpanned as she turned towards the well, “anyway, I got to wondering if perhaps.. you know..”

Regina looked at Emma in confusion before understanding her meaning, “oh, if my mother is down this well? I find that highly unlikely, her body is in the family crypt.”

Emma looked at Regina, “is there some way we could check?” 

“Well, yes,” Regina said and approached the well and looked down, “mother? Are you in this well?”

Regina cupped her ear dramatically, “no, she’s not there,” she turned to Emma with an evil smile.

“That’s not funny,” Emma said, smothering a smile.

Regina smirked and stood up, “I’m sorry, Emma, mother is gone. She’s certainly not hanging around down there.”

“But this well, it,” Emma walked around to the plaque that August had showed her the first time she had seen the well, “it.. here it is, the waters that run below are said to have the power to return that which one has lost.”

“That is true,” Regina nodded, “the water below the well is rooted in Lake Nostos.”

“We were there,” Emma replied quickly, “when your mother tried to steal my heart, in this timeline, in the Enchanted Forest, and Hook made that quip about sticking me with his sword.”

“Delightful,” Regina drawled.

“Hey, we’ve both made mistakes with men,” Emma commented, “anyway, the well.”

“The well does have the power to bring back something lost but it would be impossible for my mother to be brought back,” Regina said.

“She asked me to look after you,” Emma confessed, “the last thing she said to me.”

Regina smiled as she looked down into the well, “and? Are you going to do that?”

“If you’ll let me,” Emma admitted as she took a step closer towards Regina.

“Thank you for telling me this,” Regina smiled, “it’s.. it’s nice to know she did the right thing for you,” she stood up and turned to face Emma and her eyes dropped towards Emma’s black tie and paused for a second before heading back up to meet her eyes.

“Shall we return to the car for lunch?” Regina asked softly.

Emma nodded, “good idea, let’s get out of here.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some sexy times and the end of the story!

“What are we doing, Emma?”

Emma looked up at Regina with hesitant smile. She knew exactly what the brunette meant. This was their seventh dinner in two weeks, add that to the three morning chats while watching the sunrise and the every-other-day lunches and they had seen a lot of each other. Dates, Emma fondly called them, telling Regina that it was a date every time they planned to do something together. 

The blonde had kept up the charm offensive like a true professional and went out of her way to ensure that Regina was comfortable and enjoyed their time together, not that it was difficult. As much as Mary Margaret would refer to Regina as high maintenance, the truth was that she wasn’t at all. Regina was mainly picky about things like shoes on the carpets and eating with your mouth full. 

They spoke a lot and constantly discovered things they had in common, a love for black and white horror movies, (the more terrible the effects, the better), intricate desserts as Emma was quite the pastry chef, spending time walking the dogs from the animal shelter and tending to Regina’s apple tree. Emma had brought the subject of the tree up with Regina one evening while enjoying a homemade apple pie and Regina had hesitantly agreed to show her the tree and her maintenance schedule to repair the damage to the branch. 

After that Emma joined her regularly to help, supposedly because she didn’t like the idea of Regina climbing the ladder to tend to the tree with no assistance. Before long Emma realised she enjoyed tending to the tree as well as the other trees and plants in Regina’s garden and they began a landscaping plan to rejuvenate a back corner that Regina claimed was looking tired. To Emma’s untrained eyes it looked perfect and she assumed that Regina was creating a new project for them and before long they had a small vegetable patch that Emma was anxiously waiting to see come to life.

They hadn’t told anyone that they were seeing each other, mainly because they were too busy seeing each other to have conversations with anyone else. Of course Mary Margaret knew and she offered Emma comforting smiles when Henry attempted to quiz why she was spending so much time with Regina, often stepping in and telling Henry that it involved important work stuff and how happy she was that she was no longer Mayor. For the most part Henry bought it but he clearly knew something was up but neither woman mentioned it because down that road led a serious conversation that they were both not sure they were ready to have.

But now it seemed that Regina wanted an end to the uncertainty as they sat on the sofa half-watching a terrible black and white movie about vampires with terrible eastern European accents. She was dressed in casual jeans and a loose fitting cream sweater, Emma had convinced her that sometimes she could wear clothes that meant she could actually eat. She was even drinking a beer following a recent discussion about flavoured beer where they had decided to have a tasting session to see if both of them could stretch their preconceived ideas on their preferred alcoholic beverages of choice. Emma had taken a journey into the world of red wine and had found it to be not as vile as she remembered, settling on rioja as her favourite even though she admitted it would not be her top choice if there was anything other than red wine available.

Regina tried beer, making a distinctive displeased face at most varieties until she settled on an apple flavoured beer which Emma was convinced was more like cider than beer. Regina had showed Emma the bottle and pointed to the word beer and nodded decisively, the discussion was over. So now she sat, drinking her apple flavoured beer and asking Emma the question they had been avoiding.

“I don’t know,” Emma admitted honestly, she was drinking plain old tap water and downed her glass in one as her nerves began to increase and her throat felt dry. She was on call for any emergencies that evening and needed to avoid alcohol, Regina had bought in a range of non-alcoholic drinks and was amused when Emma admitted she liked plain old water and the next day a selection of still and sparkling bottled water appeared in the fridge. Emma shook her head at the unnecessary extravagance and told Regina that tap water would be fine and on her next visit there was a large water jug filled with cool water sat in the fridge. Regina had offered to put slices of lemons in but Emma scrunched up her face at the thought of her water being sullied by the flavour.

“May I say something?” Regina asked supposedly casually.

Emma made a face, if Regina was asking permission to say something then the likelihood was that Emma wasn’t going to like it, “okay,” she allowed carefully.

Regina leaned forward and placed her half empty beer glass on the table in front of her and knitted her brow as she considered the phrasing of whatever verbal bomb she was about to ignite. 

“I know you are still finding it difficult to settle back into things,” Regina commented.

Emma nodded, that was certainly true. The nightmares were back but a new theme had emerged lately following a journey into the Twilight Zone’s back-catalogue one evening which had Emma wondering if everything was a dream, if she was in a coma or, worse, dead. These thoughts only really bothered her in her sleep or in the dark of her bedroom after she had shocked herself awake. By the morning all that was left was the dark marks under her eyes. 

Of course Emma had told Regina of her concerns and of course Regina had laughed and pinched Emma’s forearm, hard, before announcing that she was awake and unfortunately the nightmare that was her wardrobe was very much real. It was exactly what Emma had needed, a no nonsense, pull your socks up and stop being ridiculous kind of response that left no room for doubt. Regina cared, of course she did, Emma could drown in the compassion on display in her beautiful brown eyes, but she wouldn’t allow Emma on a dangerous path of self-doubt.

“And, while I understand that,” Regina continued, “I feel that it’s important that we clarify a matter that’s been concerning me.”

Emma frowned, the nervous dryness was back in her throat while she struggled to catch up on Regina’s train of thought and understand what it was she was going to say.

“I am not Regina Blanchard,” the brunette said seriously.

It had taken her a while to be able to say the name, firstly without mock-gagging latterly without rolling her eyes.

“I know,” Emma nodded.

“No, I don’t think you do,” Regina said, “I think there is a part of you who is treating me in the way you would treat her.”

Emma frowned as she considered this, “am I?”

“Yes,” Regina replied with a smile as she brought a knee up to curl under her body and turned to face Emma who sat beside her on the sofa, “I think there is a part of you that still believes that a part of me is that.. naïve, maybe innocent, woman. And I think that it’s effecting how you would normally act during a relationship.”

Emma blinked as she took a moment to process this but before she had more than a couple of seconds Regina spoke again, “I think you need to remember that I,” she smirked, “I became the Evil Queen and I spent many years doing whatever I liked, with whomever I liked.”

“Oh,” Emma said with wide eyes as the final meaning of Regina’s words started to make sense.

“So, I ask you again,” Regina licked her lips, “what are we doing?”

“Well,” Emma looked at Regina with dark eyes, “I know what I’d like to be doing..”

“Then why on earth are we not doing it?” Regina stared at her incredulously.

Emma opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out, trust Regina to want to go from a standing start to one hundred miles per hour in a split-second. They hadn’t even kissed, unless you counted the innocent and short-lived kisses on the cheek they had been exchanging with increasing frequency. Emma thought she was giving Regina time and space to make up her own mind, allowing Regina to set pace and come to Emma if and when she was ready.

It now seemed that Regina was ready, more than ready, she was frustrated with the delay and was now going to force the subject one way or another to get an answer out of the blonde.

“I realise you are trying to be chivalrous,” Regina continued, “but, really, Emma, I think we both know where this is heading. You don’t have to be shy.”

“Shy?!” Emma choked out, “I’m not shy! I’m just.. I didn’t.. okay I’m a little slow off the mark but I’m certainly not shy!”

Regina let out a soft chuckle, “whatever you say, dear, your ferocity in the bedroom knows no bounds I’m sure..”

“I’ll have you know I had you, the other you, up against the kitchen wall,” Emma didn’t know why she needed to prove herself with such a sentence but she nodded for emphasis at the end.

Regina looked confused, “I thought you said you’d only kissed?”

Emma blushed, “I meant kissing!”

Regina snorted a laugh, “oh, I see, you kissed against the wall. However will I cope with such lusty passion from the Saviour?”

Emma launched herself forward and crushed her lips to Regina’s and pushed the woman flat down on the sofa and laid her body down heavily on top of Regina’s. She had hoped and expected that the surprise attack would give her the upper hand but just a second later Regina rolled them over and somehow was on top of Emma again and feasting on her mouth in a kiss that left Emma breathless and dazed.

Regina ripped her mouth away from Emma’s and looked down at her lustfully, “we’re going to have sex now, Emma, do let me know if I get too rough for you.”

Emma didn’t have time to answer again before Regina pulled off her own sweater and threw it carelessly on the floor. The blonde had all of two seconds to appreciate the toned, tan body and the fact that Regina wasn’t wearing a bra before Regina grabbed the two halves of Emma’s shirt and ripped them apart, sending buttons bouncing across the floor. 

Regina’s hands were on Emma’s bra-covered breasts in the next heartbeat and before long she pulled the material down to release Emma’s breasts and began to roughly grab at them and Regina let out an almost feral moan.

With sudden realisation of what was actually happening and the fact that it was actually happening now Emma remembered that she should be doing something and quickly brought her hands up to cup Regina’s breasts. Emma enjoyed rough sex, she’d often been the one to initiate rough sex but she’d never been so shocked and turned on that she forgot to respond.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Regina huskily laughed when Emma finally started to respond.

“I.. wasn’t.. expecting,” Emma whispered as Regina’s hips found a rhythm and the brunette ground her body into Emma’s sexually, “oh, god, Regina..”

“You didn’t think me some shrinking violet in the bedroom, did you, dear?” Regina asked as she pulled Emma into a sitting position by the collar of her shirt and then quickly worked on removing it and Emma’s bra before pushing her back down onto the sofa again.

“N-no,” Emma stammered as Regina quickly stood up and began to remove her jeans.

“Get those off. Now,” Regina commanded with a glance towards Emma’s remaining clothes.

Emma didn’t even question it as she raised her hips from the sofa and ungraciously shuffled out of her tight jeans and threw them to the floor. She quickly removed her panties and socks and Regina raised an eyebrow, “keen,” she commented with an appreciative smile.

With her black panties still in place Regina knelt beside the sofa and grabbed Emma’s nearest leg and threw it over her head to rest on her opposite shoulder and pulled the blonde’s exposed pussy hungrily into her mouth.

“Fuck!” Emma screamed in pleasure as Regina’s mouth covered her soaking pussy. 

Regina removed her mouth for a moment and breathed, “now you’re getting it, dear,” before returning her lips and tongue to a frenzied movement that had Emma grabbing Regina’s hair as her legs hung over Regina’s shoulders. 

Regina’s hands dug into Emma’s hips to hold her bucking blonde in place while she made pleasurable noises that reverberated off of Emma’s clit and caused Emma’s orgasm to race to the finish line faster than she expected. 

With a scream that Emma didn’t quite realise had come from her own mouth she came and reared up into Regina’s mouth before her body went limp. Regina gently guided her back onto the sofa and Emma realised she had been perilously close to the edge and falling to the floor and belatedly realised that Regina had been holding her in place for that very reason.

“Satisfactory?” Regina questioned with a knowing smirk.

Emma nodded as she panted for breath, unable to form words at that point in time.

“Good,” Regina grabbed Emma’s chin and pulled her face up to look directly at Regina’s, “I want to feel my fingers inside of you next and then you’re going to put your mouth on me and eat me like I see you eat those burgers I make you. After that we’re going to sixty-nine and see who wins.”

“W-wins?” Emma frowned in confusion.

“Who makes the other come first,” Regina smiled, “best of three, of course, I’m fair like that.”

Emma just about convinced Regina to go to the bedroom but only due to the reasonable argument that proceedings would last longer on a more comfortable surface. And they did. Regina was true to her word and pulled Emma’s body around to cater to her every whim, Emma had no complaints at all because it resulted in the best sex she had ever had. 

To Emma’s shame she couldn’t quite keep up with Regina and eventually had to declare her exhaustion and need to sleep. In a sudden turn of events Regina was swiftly soft and caring again, providing clothes for Emma to sleep in and tucking her into bed as if she were the most precious thing in the world. Emma drifted off to sleep in the knowledge that they had successfully crossed the boundary and their relationship was now firmly on the next level, Regina clearly didn’t believe in going from base to base but rather torching the whole field in one go. Which suited Emma just perfectly.

The next morning they made love, it was soft and gentle and full of promises and care and Emma understood that she had hit upon the ultimate jackpot in Regina who managed to be everything Emma needed in one person.

Afterwards they lay together facing each other and smiling at nothing.

“I have a thing for your uniform,” Regina suddenly admitted.

“Oh?” Emma smiled.

“I’ve tried to ignore it because it’s quite ridiculous,” Regina sniffed, “but.. well, I do.”

“Your other self had a thing for it too,” Emma confessed, “she used to straighten my tie when it didn’t need straightening.”

Regina blushed and Emma smiled as she understood, “you’ve wanted to do that too?”

Regina nodded slowly, “I’ve been fighting the urge to pull you to my lips with the damn thing.”

Emma bit her lip and smiled, “sounds nice..”

Regina smirked until her face grew serious again, “I know I was a little.. rough.. last night. I..”

“If you’re about to apologise then no need,” Emma said with a smile, “I like it rough, I love it rough. Don’t get me wrong this morning was great too but it’s so hot when you just,” she growled, “and take what you want.”

The beginnings of a small smile started on Regina’s face, “as long as you’re sure?”

“Very, don’t change, I love making love with you, whatever form it takes,” Emma said as she shuffled closer to Regina and indicated for the brunette to turn the other way and pulled Regina into her arms.

~*~*~*~*~*~  
It was a few days later when Mary Margaret opened the door to the apartment and smiled, “oh, hi, Regina,” she stood to one side and let the woman in.

Regina entered and looked around until her eyes settled on Emma who was sat on the sofa reading the newspaper, “good morning, Sheriff,” Regina said formally as Emma stood up and approached the brunette.

Mary Margaret had headed off pick up a stack of papers that sat on the edge of her bed and Emma indicated her with a nod of her head, “she knows, Regina.”

“Knows what?” Regina stared at her supposedly secret blonde lover in confusion.

“That you’re dating,” Mary Margaret said as she held the papers out to Regina, “this is everything I have, sorry again, I was sure I took everything back to the office but clearly some things got left behind.”

Regina wordlessly took the stack of papers and then snapped her head around to Emma, “she knows?”

“She’s right here,” Mary Margaret replied, “tea?”

“No!” Regina cried out before softening her tone, “I mean, no, thank you,” she glared at Emma, “you told her?”

“Well, she kinda guessed when I first got back,” Emma admitted.

“I’m having tea,” Mary Margaret spoke up, “anyone else?”

“And she’s okay with this?” Regina asked in shock before turning to Mary Margaret, “and you’re okay with this?”

Mary Margaret filled the kettle up, “well, I wasn’t doing cartwheels at first, obviously. But, yes, of course I’m okay with this,” she nodded her head in Emma’s direction, “look how happy she is.”

“Mom,” Emma whined and Regina brought her hands up to her head in shock as she attempted to figure things out.

“Okay, so.. you know,” she said as she pointed at Mary Margaret, “I presume David knows?”

Mary Margaret nodded, “he does.”

“And by the fact that he hasn’t turned up at my door with a sword he must share your ambivalence?”

“We’re not ambivalent,” Mary Margaret pointed out with a sigh, “we’re happy for you, both of you.”

Regina turned to Emma with a serious expression, “Darling, I’m sorry I doubted you, you are asleep or in another timeline because this,” she drew a circle in the air to surround Mary Margaret’s face, “cannot be happening.”

Mary Margaret ignored her, “but I think you girls need to think about when to tell Henry because he’ll start getting suspicious soon.”

“Girls?” Regina sneered at the word.

“Especially if you’re going to have any more nights away from the apartment,” Mary Margaret told Emma with a laugh, “now, really, tea?”

“Yeah,” Emma shrugged, “I’ll have some,” she looked at Regina who was still processing the conversation, “Regina will have a cup too.”

Mary Margaret got three cups and lined them up and began placing bags in them, “I think Henry will be excited,” she started.

“Yeah, I’d like to not sneak around behind his back,” Emma nodded.

“You think he will be okay with this?” Regina suddenly woke up from her trance and asked Mary Margaret.

“Oh, yes,” Mary Margaret nodded, “to have his mothers together? He’ll love it. And you raised a good boy, Regina.”

Regina looked at Mary Margaret in surprise, “thank you,” she whispered.

Emma regarded the two of them and realised it was moments like this that had her remembering the other Regina, the Regina who was shy and uncertain of herself and no matter how much Regina liked to proclaim that she wasn’t like that still, she was. In some small ways that Regina still lived on, perfectly balanced with the former Evil Queen who had given Regina her fire, her drive and her personality. As well as some great leather trousers. 

Emma often wondered if she would have gotten together with Regina if it hadn’t been for the time portal, as traumatic as it was she couldn’t help but be grateful to it for opening up her eyes to what was right in front of her. She settled on the assumption that she probably would have eventually gotten with Regina but she knew it would have taken much longer, even if she had been harbouring feelings for the woman for years unbeknownst to herself. 

Now she had someone in her life who treated her like the princess she supposedly was, her life was finally looking brighter and with every day the sadness of past hardships diminished a little further. She knew that it wouldn’t be easy and that there would be difficulties ahead, all relationships were bound to have them. But with Regina she had fought enemies and all manner of monsters, rescued her family and their son and could enjoy a comfortable silence over some of the best burgers to grace the planet. Emma Swan had no intention of running ever again.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who came on this journey with me and left kudos, comments or messaged me - as I have said before I don't have time to reply to them all but I certainly read and appreciate them all.


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